My Golden Heart
by AngelQueen13
Summary: Since Orochimaru left, Anko has been trying to get Konoha's approval. Now she feels she has her chance when she gets assigned to an important mission. But when this misson involves Orochimaru, things get complicated. Oroanko
1. Sleepless Night

My Golden Heart

Chapter 1- Sleepless Night

The time ticked slowly as Anko tossed and turned in her bed. The memories of her former sensei crept into her dreams of her childhood days when she was an academy student and genin. The times of laughing, training, and playing turned into terrible moments of pain, sorrow, and betrayal. The scene of Orochimaru laying the curse mark upon her played over in her dreams, the pain always the same as it was back then. However, the thing she remembered the most was his form walking away from her trembling body while his laugh remained ringing in her ears.

Anko woke up in her home in Konoha. She was sweating and shaking with fresh tear trails streaked down her face. Once again she woke up in the middle of the night, due to the terrifying memories she tried so hard to forget. Involuntarily, Anko turned toward the clock at the side of her bed to see what the time was this night.

"3:21…Great." Anko said to herself sarcastically. She had to meet with the fifth Hogake, Tsunade, in four hours about some new, important assignment. That being the case, she couldn't be falling asleep during the necessary details. She needed to prove to the council of elders that she was a trustworthy ninja and this was the perfect opportunity. If she could complete this demanding task, maybe the council would look past the fact that she was Orochimaru's student. Anko smiled at the thought. Yes, that was what she wanted, for Konoha to accept her by the person she had become, not for who she was taught by. However, in order for any of this to happen, she first had to at least be awake to do well on this mission. But how the hell was she going to get back to sleep when she knew that her sensei, the snake sanin, would be lurking in the corners of her dreams. Anko sighed realizing that in order to get some sleep, she needed to forget about Orochimaru and calm down.

Anko lifted herself from her bed and put her bare feet on the cold, wooden floor to make her way through the darkness towards the bathroom on the other side of her bedroom. She remembered doing something similar to this when she was with Orochimaru and couldn't sleep. Her little hands would stretch out in the darkness to feel around as she made her way across the room in order to find her sensei's room at the other end of the hall. In her attempts to be quiet, she usually tripped or stubbed her foot on something causing Orochimaru to jump out of his bed, unaware of what was happening, and run to wherever she was. Anko remembered how worried he looked whenever it happened, but when she started giggling, a small smile crept across his face. He would then pick her tiny form up in his arms to make sure she was really ok. There was even that one time, after he made sure she wasn't hurt, he smacked the back of her head for being so careless. But in the end, she would find her way into his room to rest for the night, despite him trying to put her back in her room. For some reason, her younger self thought that it was easier to sleep whenever he held her close.

Anko's heart sank when she remembered just how far away those days really were. She ruffled her hair and shook her head to try and shake the sad feeling she just felt for her sensei. Anko continued heading towards the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. She figured that maybe the cool feeling would help to rid her thoughts of Orochimaru as well as the memories. Upon entering the bathroom, the moon's light shown through the small window at the top of the wall. Just like how it shown through the trees in the Forest of Death when she encountered Orochi…Wait, no, the whole reason she came in here was to forget about him. Anko turned the knob on the faucet for cold water. As she stared into the mirror, she noticed just how red her eyes really were, not to mention the dark bags that lied below them. Anko sighed and grabbed a towel to rinse under the water. She then dabbed the wet towel on her face and neck, which made her feel a little better. After Anko had finished, she wrung the remaining water out of the towel and placed it on the counter. Anko then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes to look into the mirror, she found a pair of golden snake-like eyes staring at her from behind. Anko spun around, ready to fight. However, after scanning the room for any intrusion, no one was there.

'_Okay, Anko, just calm down. There is no way that he could possibly be in Konoha.' _Anko could feel her heart beating through her chest as she breathed heavily. She wiped the newly formed sweat from her forehead and braced herself against the sink. Yep, there was no way she could sleep peacefully now.

_To Be Continued _

_

* * *

_

_Thank you so much for reading. This is my first story on fanfiction, but I've been writing for awhile. I personally love romantic comedy types of stories so I decided to make one with Orochimaru and Anko. Anko and Orochimaru are my favorite characters in Naruto. So I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it._

_I know that this first chapter may seem pointless, but I assure you things will get better and more tense! I tried my best to avoid spelling errors, so if you see any mistakes please tell me! _

_I would love to know what you all think so far, so please review because I want to know how I can improve!_


	2. The Mission

My Golden Heart

Chapter 2- The Mission

Anko felt so alone. She stood on the dock of an unknown area and looked out into the grey fog. Her trench coat fluttered behind her as a cool breeze swept across her body. The scenery was beginning to become clearer as the fog started to fade away. Anko stared in awe at the scene before her, the once cold and depressing fog formed into the beautiful sea and islands that she tried so hard to memorize for her sensei. Anko turned to her right, almost expecting to see him there in his green vest looking out to the islands with her, but he wasn't there. The wind blew past her once more, ruffling through her hair and stinging her eyes. Anko went to wipe here face with the back of her sleeve, but a strong hand came out from behind her and grabbed hold of her wrist.

She turned her head to see Orochimaru, looking at her with those kind eyes that she once knew. Anko turned her head away; she didn't want to look at him anymore. All of this was a dream, a memory, none of it was real. He was gone, never to stand by her, look her in the face, and caress her cheek again. The Orochimaru that she once knew and looked up to was gone and all of those memories should have done the same. He now stood at her right, just like all those years ago, she wanted to move, but her feet were stuck onto the rotting wooden floor of the dock. Anko felt a hand brush her hair off her face while the other grabbed her chin to tilt her head up towards his. Her eyes once again met with his golden ones and she felt herself pressed into his embrace. She wanted to struggle, push him off, and run away; but instead she stayed put and let her heart swell up in her chest. Anko felt herself shake in his arms and tears began to pour out on their own. She sobbed into his chest and wished that she didn't miss him. Orochimaru didn't say anything, he just stroked her hair and let her cry as she gripped onto his vest and choked on her own sobs. She felt herself become lightheaded as her head began to pound. She was loosing her grip on him as he began to fade from her; she knew that they wouldn't be together much longer. Stifling back another sob, she only managed to get out a few words.

_'Please, don't...Go.'_

Anko's eyes fluttered open due to small beam of light shining through the window. A towel was placed under her cheek while the rest of her body was curled up on the tile of the bathroom floor. Wait… Why was she sleeping in the bathroom; on the floor no less? Anko sat up to discover a sharp pain in her neck and for once this one wasn't caused by that damn curse seal. Cracking her neck slightly, Anko lifted herself up onto her shaky legs and braced herself against the sink. She looked into her mirror to see her hair in disarray and her eyes red and bloodshot. 'God, please don't tell me I was crying.' Anko lifted the towel she was using off the floor and threw it into the overflowing hamper in the corner on her way out the door to her bedroom. She slowly made her way across her room, dragging her feet and grabbing onto nearby furniture for support. When she reached her bed, she sat down, placed her head in her hands, and let her mind wander.

Her mind drifted off and she remembered those eyes; those beautiful, yet haunting, golden eyes that she imagined staring back at her before she started...dreaming. Anko closed her eyes as she remembered the dock, the sea, his form wrapped tightly around hers... Anko mentally slapped herself for even thinking that she enjoyed such a thing. Even if it was a dream, it was still about Orochimaru. Just the thought of being wrapped in his arms sent butterflies to her stomach, and not the happy-go-lucky kind, no, she meant the little pestering butterflies they ate you from the inside-out and dwelled on pain and fear. They were a lot like Orochimaru, actually. Heh, Orochimaru. A butterfly. Pft. Shifting her body, Anko noticed the clock by her bedside showing that it was 6:47 a.m. Her eyes widened as she brought the clock closer to her face to make sure that she read it right.

"Shit!" Anko yelled as she ran toward her closet to find some descent clothes to wear to the Hogake's office. The baggie, dark T-shirt and boxer shorts she was wearing just wouldn't cut it. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!!" Anko yelled again as she searched through her closet throwing around the clothes that she wasn't going to wear. Once she had her usual trench coat and fishnet attire, she quickly brushed her hair and teeth and ran out of her house towards the town. Running through the crowded streets and knocking over a few unimportant people earned her a few angry shouts and glares. However, she didn't have time for their petty problems, she was late enough already. Yet, she was able to make a quick stop at the dango stand. After getting herself a couple of dangos and paying the man at the counter, she continued running and pushing her way through the streets towards the Hogake's office. Tsunade was going to be so pissed.

When Anko ran into the main entrance of the building, she had to push a few more people out of the way to get through while holding the remaining dango sticks in her mouth. This caused Anko to receive some more shouts and glares which she once again ignored. However, that didn't matter, what did though, was the elderly man who was watching the scene from afar glaring at Anko as she shoved a woman out of her way.

"Don't get in my way then, bitch!" Anko yelled to the woman swearing from behind her. Anko then noticed the older man who appeared to be looking down on her.

"What are you looking at, you bastard?" Anko asked cruelly. She turned to start running towards the Hogake's office again when she heard the elderly man mutter just loud enough for her to hear, "Yeah, she is just like her traitorous sensei." Anko was filled with hurt and anger as she stopped abruptly and slowly turned to face the man. "Excuse me?" Anko began, but before she could continue, she felt a hand touch her shoulder which made her jump slightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Anko. I didn't mean to startle you." Shizune said, "I just came to get you to see Tsunade. You see, umm, she's beginning to get a little...impatient."

"Oh, uh, right. Sorry." Anko said while turning her gaze away from the old man. "Let's go. I've kept her waiting long enough."

Shizune lead Anko down the familiar corridors of the building all the way to the doors of the Hogake's office.

"Thanks, Shizune." Anko said. "But I could have gotten here myself."

"Hehe, yeah, but you know you are almost a half hour late, so I just wanted to make sure you got here."

"Shit! A half hour? You're kidding!"

Shizune shook her head no and Anko felt her head spin. "Well you better go now," Shizune said while pushing Anko towards the doors. "We don't want Lady Tsunade to bring the whole building down in a rampage...again."

Anko nodded and went off through the doors expecting all of Hell to break loose. Instead, she entered to stand before Tsunade who had her chin in her hand while the other drummed against the desk.

"Good morning, Lady Tsunade." Anko began, "I'm here beca-"

"You're late!" Tsunade interrupted. "I told you 7 'o' clock and it is now 7:25! What happened!?! I would expect this behavior from Kakashi, not from you!"

"I'm sorry, it's just that I had... trouble sleeping last night and I overslept this morning because of it."

"I was really hoping for a better excuse than that, Anko." Tsunade sighed. She then noticed the bags under her bloodshot eyes which were a little swollen, almost as if she had been crying.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the girl and sighed, "Trouble sleeping...Alright. I'll let it slide this time." She stood up and walked toward Anko. "I hope that nothing else is bothering you because what I'm going to say is very important." Anko stared at the blond before her and nodded her head.

"Now let me tell you, this mission that you have been assigned has caused much debate between the council and myself. We have motioned for this mission to be for you and only you. Understand?" Anko nodded her head again to show she was paying attention. Whatever this was, it must have been really important if the council and Tsunade were debating about it. Tsunade cleared her throat and continued, "Your mission is to go to the Sound Village undercover to figure out Orochimaru's next move against us." Anko felt her stomach drop at the sound of his name. "We have had some evidence that he is planning to attack again and we need to be prepared this time." Great, the person she was trying to avoid all this time since she came back from Sea country, she had to get close to.

Anko backed away from the fifth Hogake, slowly shaking her head. "Tsu, I can't. I-It's impossible for me to get close to him, he has the upper hand. He _always_ has the upper hand when it comes to me and him. No matter what I do, he is one more step ahead just waiting for me to fall."

Anko's heart was speeding up with every step she took away from the blond until her back was up against the wall. "There's no way that I could get close to him. He'll recognize my chakra the moment I step into his hideout. Why don't you send someone else, a stranger, who doesn't know him personally? That way he couldn't detect them." Anko felt like she was off the hook until Tsunade started speaking again.

"Don't you see Anko? That is exactly why we chose you, because you know him. If we sent someone who didn't know anything about what he was really like, then they wouldn't know what to expect. They would just report the plans they heard and wouldn't have any lead on why he was performing that particular plan or what he was going to do to achieve that plan. You know as well as I do that Orochimaru is not one to explain his ideas. The only way to comprehend the meanings behind his plans is to know him personally. Understand?" Anko made no movement to show that she heard Tsunade; she just stared blankly out the window, taking in all of what Tsunade had said.

Tsunade patted Anko on the shoulder in order to bring her attention out of her thoughts. "I know you can do this Anko," Tsunade said, squeezing Anko's shoulder lightly. "I think that out of this whole village, including myself, you know him the best." Anko slumped down the wall onto the floor with Tsunade now kneeling in front of her. A few minutes of silence passed as Tsunade looked at the girl before her in pity.

"Why are you so afraid, Anko? Do you really fear him so much that you can not even stand the thought of being in the same village with him?" Tsunade asked, breaking the silence.

Tsunade rose out her crouched position and looked down at Anko whose head suddenly shot up, clearly not like being told that she was afraid.

"Are you really going to let your emotions control you? If you really hate and fear him as much you do, then stand up for yourself and face him!" Tsunade's voice got bolder and bolder as she spoke. "Come on, Anko, be a ninja and fight for yourself, or at the very least for your village!"

Anko felt something in her snap as she stood up from the floor and faced Tsunade. Anko for the first time in awhile stood up with her head held high to accept whatever would come next. She hesitated a minute before she spoke out to the Hogake.

"It looks like no isn't an option, when do I leave?" Anko's voice was strong, all of the fear she held moments ago had vanished.

Tsunade smiled; glad to have finally gotten Anko to agree with her demands. "You will leave tomorrow at the crack of dawn. So try to get a good night's sleep tonight, you're going to need it."

Anko grabbed the pass from Tsunade and made her way towards the door, but as she began to walk out, she heard Tsunade say one more thing quietly, "Good-bye Anko. Be careful."

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_Well there you go chapter two! Phew, I went through many revisions with this one while trying to figure out the dream sequence as well as Tsunade's character. I hope that both came out satisfying though._

_Also, I hope Anko isn't too OOC for you. I wanted her to be sort of timid and worried at first, but then get back to her old self after talking to Tsunade. Because, you know, no matter how tough a person is, they still have their limits. And for Anko, I always thought that Orochimaru was a sensitive subject for her. So I thought that she would need just a little push to get herself out there and face Orochimaru again._

_I also tried to keep this chapter sort of interesting, however, it was a little hard because there was a lot of information to take in, and I apologize for that, but it was just how things worked out. I promise there will be more action once Anko makes her way out of the Leaf and into the Sound! _

_I really hope that this chapter kept your interest and not just drag on and on like it would never end, because I find it unappealing when stories are like that. But like I said before, this chapter does have its purpose so I hope that you will all bear with me on this._

_Thank you to all of those who read my story and reviewed, it made me really happy to see what you thought about it so far. _

_Thanks again for reading! See you next time in chapter 3!_


	3. Prepare

_I know that I haven't done this in the past two chapters, so I'll say it now. I do not own any of these characters. If I did, Anko would have showed up a LOT more._

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 3- Prepare

Anko wandered out of the Hogake's office lost in her thoughts. Mindlessly, she shielded her eyes from the newly risen sun with her hand as she walked into the crowd of people in the streets. Everyone was pushing their way through, but Anko didn't notice. The only thing that consumed her thoughts at that moment was the conversation that she just recently had with Tsunade.

'_Why are you so afraid, Anko? Do you really fear him that much that you can't even stand the thought of being in the same village with him?'_

'_Are you really going to let your emotions control you? If you really hate and fear him as much you do, then stand up for yourself and face him!'_

Anko felt her mouth twitch up into an awkward smirk as those words replayed over and over in her head. She now stood in the middle of a sea of people, all of whom were pushing their way past her, not even wondering why she stopped so abruptly. A soft, painful laugh escaped her lips and she felt her head cloud up. Suddenly, she couldn't handle it; she felt her heartbeat increase as she clutched the fabric of her shirt over her stomach.

"Heh, heh." Anko hunched slightly over, tightly gripping her shirt. Fear him? God, it went way beyond that. There was no way it was just fear anymore. It became an obsession. She wouldn't just find him, she would bury him. Make him regret, make him pay. Anko made her way to the side of the street and braced herself against the wall. She felt herself shake violently. She couldn't contain herself anymore.

"Ha, ha. AHAHAHAHA!"

Nobody stopped. They just ignored her as usual as she stood there laughing to herself. Tears started to fall down her face, as if she were stuck between feelings of panic and complete happiness.

No one could have possibly known just how unstable she was at that moment, not that they would have cared anyway. She was really all alone. Not even the few friends that she had could help her. There was only one person that could end the madness once and for all and she was determined to find him.

Upon arriving at her home, Anko began gathering the few things she absolutely needed.

"Okay," Anko began, "I need some food for the journey, money, and clothes. But then again, I only need a few clothes, I guess, since I'll probably be buying new clothes in Otagakure anyways." Anko threw all of her belongings into her tan backpack trying to think if there was anything else she could possibly need.

"Having fun?" A sweet, honey-like voice said. Anko turned around to see Kurenai standing in her doorway. Her left hand was placed on the door frame while the other rested on her hip.

"Yes, please come in, Kurenai," Anko sarcastically said. Kurenai just gave a small smile and made her way across the room toward Anko.

"I heard about your new mission. It must be…" Kurenai carefully thought over her words before saying them, "…exciting, right?"

Anko made no comment. She just looked coldly at the floor. Kurenai was going to place her hand on Anko's shoulder, but held back.

"Hey, Anko, I have a surprise for you!" Kurenai spoke causing Anko to stare at her lazily. "It was going to be for your birthday, but, what the hell, I'll give it to you now!"

Kurenai reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a light purple box with a cream colored bow. She placed it in Anko's hand, but Anko just stared at it, not making any move to open it.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" Kurenai asked anxiously, bouncing slightly on the bed. "I picked it out especially for you!"

Anko looked up at her friend and then down at the box again. Opening the box gently, Anko found a necklace. The golden heart matched the chain it was attached to. On the front of the small heart was a clock, which you could hear ticking if it was held close to your ear.

"It's beautiful." Anko said, not taking her eyes off the necklace.

"That's not all. Go on, open it." Kurenai said smiling. Anko looked at the heart to see that it had a little crease in the side so that it could be opened. With a small click, Anko opened the heart to see on the left side, a small picture already put in of her and all of her friends. Kakashi, Asuma, Tsunade, and Kurenai were all huddled around Anko; each had a pose that perfectly described them.

Kakashi, in the upper right hand side of the picture, was reading a book in the back; Asuma was in front of him with his arm around Kurenai who was smiling politely at the camera; Tsunade, at the left of Anko, was posed like a model with her right hand on her hip while her left was brushing her hair back, and Anko sat in the middle oblivious to everything while eating her dango.

Anko smirked, no wonder she didn't remember when they took the picture. She was too busy eating her dango. Her attention was then drawn to the right side of the locket which was painfully plain.

"I want you to put someone very special on that side." Kurenai said winking.

"Like who?" Anko chuckled.

"Oh, I don't know, a guy, maybe. One you really like or something similar that." Kurenai responded nudging at Anko's arm.

"I'll keep that in mind." Anko said rolling her eyes, yet smiling as she did so. Kurenai just smiled back.

"Thank you, Kurenai, for everything," Anko said, barely in a whisper. "I'm going to miss you so much." Both had tears in their eyes as she spoke.

"Aw, come on, Anko." Kurenai laughed slightly wiping the tears from her eyes. "You're acting like we'll never see each other again. Once this mission is over and behind us, we'll go out and celebrate with some sake, k?"

"Alright, alright. Once the mission is over, we'll have dozens of sake… and dango." Anko quickly added.

"You got it, Anko," Kurenai said. "Just as long as you don't eat a diet only made of dangos."

"No promises." Anko slyly replied smirking at her best friend.

Kurenai made her way to the door. Before she left she said once last thing, "Good-bye, Anko. Good Luck."

* * *

_To Be Continued_

_I am so sorry for the long wait! When was the last time I uploaded, December 2?? Ah, that's bad. I had a lot of school work to do, but that is no excuse for my laziness. T-T _

_I'll try not to let this happen again._

_Anyway, I apologize for another lame chapter. But guess what, Anko's goes to the Sound in the next chapter! Yay! _

_So basically these first three chapters were like a prolog, a very long prolog. But the next chapter is where the fun begins. So I'll probably have that chapter up soon since I am now on break. _

_Happy Holidays everyone!_

_Remember, reviews make an author a very happy person! X3 _


	4. Good Bye Kohona, Hello Sound

_I do not own any of these characters; I just put them in odd situations for my own entertainment. XD_

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 4- Good Bye Kohona, Hello Sound

Anko was up and ready to go at four in the morning. She had her pass to leave set safely in her left hand pocket and the golden heart necklace Kurenai gave her packed in the box inside her backpack.

She started walking toward the door when something caught her eye. She really hadn't considered bringing it, but she couldn't think of leaving it. Anko took the picture of Orochimaru and her, when they posed for their 'sensei and pupil' photo, out of the frame and slipped it into a pocket on her bag.

'_I am only bringing it so I can remember what he looks like, not because I care or anything,' _Anko told herself.

She made her way around her house, making sure that all the lights were shut out and that her door was locked before she left. Not like anyone would rob her, she really didn't have anything of value.

Giving one last look at her little house, Anko turned and headed toward the gate. The once crowded and noisy streets were now bare and silent. Only a few people were out but only to prepare their shops for the new day. When she showed her pass, the guard handed some type of thick of paper to her.

"This is the map to Orochimaru's most recent location, they move frequently so be sure to keep a close eye on him." The guard spoke in a monotone voice.

"Uh, thanks," Anko said quietly and bowed before making her way out the gates. She looked behind her only to see the gates start to close at her departure.

'No turning back now,' Anko thought as she quickly made her way down the road and into the forest. 'Good Bye Kohona. I hope to be back soon.'

Once the village was out of sight, Anko began running through the forest. She stayed silent and swift as she made her way on the tree branches. She kept an eye out for other ninjas or dangerous animals, but only one thing was really on her mind. Find out Orochimaru's plans and head back.

Feeling her heart beat heavily in her chest, Anko soon became aware of the fact that every step that she took toward Otagakure, brought her one step closer to the man that she feared the most, Orochimaru. Anko shivered. She was going to see him again. She felt her stomach flip with excitement and fear.

As she continued to run, many questions filled her mind. Would he look the same as he did in the Forest of Death? Would he discover her when she entered the village? Would he even care?

Anko jumped out of the tree and landed on the dirt path. 'I wonder what he would do if he saw me in his village.' She began running down the path while dodging the branches sticking out into the road. 'Would he kill me? Capture me? Torture me? ... Love me?'

"Ack!" Anko smacked face first into a branch that she didn't notice while lost in thought. Sadly, the smack to the face didn't get rid of the mental images she had of him, 'loving her.' Her face was red, not from the branch, but from the idea of him touching her skin, his hot tongue traveling from inside her mouth down her neck and lower until…

"Argh! Nononono." Anko yelled, pounding her fists into her forehead. "Bad, bad thoughts. Where did they even come from anyway! Agh!"

Anko sat herself up and got back on her feet. She had to think of something else to get her mind off of these previous…thoughts.

Anko began running through the forest again, trying to forget what just happened by thinking of a way to get into his hideout. Anko started jumping on the tree branches while trying figure out exactly how she was going to outsmart the great snake sanin.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After a few days of traveling and camping, Anko found herself at the gates of Otagakure. Sneaking in really wasn't that hard. She just kept a straw hat on her head, which she kind of stole from a guy a few blocks away, to hide her face, and walked in with a group of people who were actually suppose to be there.

'Well that was easy,' Anko thought. 'Now the only question is how I am going to get into the base?' Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice. A voice that could only belong to the one and only… Kabuto.

Anko turned around to see the grey haired ninja talking to a muscular young boy. She could see their mouths moving, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. There was only one thing to do. Get closer and eavesdrop!

"… and Lord Orochimaru could really use your strength." Anko heard Kabuto finish as she slyly hid behind the wall.

"It would be an honor to serve the great sanin," The boy responded. Upon hearing the boy's response Anko quietly gagged. 'Who in their right mind would join Orochimaru freely?'

"Alright then, please come with me." Kabuto replied, "When you arrive, there will be some tests that you and some other ninjas will have to complete so we can properly identify your power."

Anko's ears perked up at this. Other ninjas? Gold! If she went with them, there would surely be a lot of people trying out, so with her chakra masked upon many others, how would he catch on? Not to mention she would have a place to eat, sleep, and train. But more importantly, she would have access to information. It was perfect!

With that, Anko carefully followed behind Kabuto all the way to the hideout. Upon her arrival, she noticed many other ninjas. Most were young, maybe about ages of 13 to 21 so she was okay. Luckily, she found some clothes that hid her appearance pretty well too. She wore a dark purple hat, a black mask that covered her nose and mouth, a purple shirt that matched the color of her hat, and some black pants. Yep, she should definitely be okay.

There weren't as many people as she thought, but there looked to be about fifty. She seemed to be well hidden, it wasn't like anyone was actually looking for her after all. Suddenly, her attention was drawn to the front where Kabuto stood trying to get everyone's attention.

"Okay, here's how things are going to work," he said loudly for everyone to hear. "You are all going to fill out a form with all of your information on it. Then to show your skills, you will all fight one battle. We should have an even number of people so it will all work out. Those who win will go one way, while the losers go another."

'Oh, shit…' Anko swore to herself, 'I haven't thought up any new information for myself and I have to do a one on one battle? Crap. I'll need to be careful to not use my chakra while here.'

Anko's heart was beating so loud, she bet that everyone could hear it. Quickly, she came up with some fake information for herself and scribbled it down on the piece of paper that was handed out moments ago. Then she made her way to the front of the room where she handed her paper in and hurried her way back into the crowd of people.

After all of the sheets were handed in, the fights began. Anko stared lazily at the fights, finding them to be absolutely lame. None of them even tried to read their opponents moves, they just ran head first into the fight hoping to get a hit on their opponent. Anko sighed. She would certainly have no trouble beating this load of idiots.

After many more fights, and a few naps from Anko, Kabuto stood up lazily and read the names for the next fight.

"Next up is Okna Ihsaratim against… that's strange we have an odd number." Kabuto scratched his head staring at the list. _'I could have sworn I only went out to get 62 people, not 63.'_

"Then I'll face the runt." A voice yelled from the crowd. Anko recognized this guy as the winner from the previous fight. He was absolutely huge and muscular, probably about twenty years old.

"Ok, if you're sure," Kabuto said. A glare on his glasses hid his eyes as he spoke. "However, you do realize that if you lose, you will go with the others who lost, right?

"Then I won't lose," The man smugly responded.

Kabuto nodded and then turned back to the list.

"So it will be Taymaki Usai against Okna Ihsaratim."

Taymaki walked toward the front while pushing people out of his way. Kabuto scanned the crowd for Okna but no one made any movement to face the huge man.

"Okna!" Kabuto repeated. "Okna Ihsaratim, final call."

"Oh! Right! That's me!" Anko yelled, stumbling to the front.

"Umm… Ok," Kabuto said looking at her funny. "Begin the match!" With that, Kabuto flicked his hand and disappeared out of the way.

Taymaki was overconfident as he cracked his knuckles and made his way toward Anko. She was about two heads shorter than him, which made him feel like he had a much greater advantage. Taymaki exposed his chakra around him in order to further stress the power that he possessed. Anko, however, just stared down at the ground, not moving a muscle as he moved faster with each step toward her.

Suddenly, he was less than a foot away from her as he pulled his arm back for a punch aiming right for her cheek. Right before his fist collided with her face, Anko quickly bent down to the ground and elbowed Taymaki right in his stomach.

"Ugh! Y-You bitch!" Taymaki spat out as he went to punch his fist down on her.

Anko quickly jumped out of the way, allowing his hand to collide with the concrete floor. He was strong, Anko gave him that. Rocks were flying from the force of the hit, yet Taymaki didn't seem the least bit affected by it. One rock was sent toward Anko and grazed her cheek, cutting part of the mask, but she paid no attention to it.

While Anko was still in the air, Taymaki pulled his other arm back for another hit toward her face. However, Anko moved her head to the side to avoid his attack and grabbed a hold of his wrist. His movements were too slow for her so she took the opportunity to go up for the final blow.

Using his bent leg for support, Anko put her foot on his knee and propelled herself up. Now that she was face to face with him in the air, she spun herself around quickly, causing her right leg to collide with his head.

He fell on his back with a loud thud, while Anko gracefully landed on her feet smirking at the bloodied man before her. Kabuto appeared on the floor and looked down at Taymaki. He then smirked and turned toward the crowd of people.

"Taymaki is down. Okna is the winner!" Kabuto yelled. His glasses once again hid his eyes as he spoke. "Now that the final match is over, winners will go through the left door, losers through the right."

Everyone obeyed and went to their specified door. It was a little hard to breathe, so Anko pulled down her mask, revealing her face. She was slightly suspicious of these rooms; however when she entered, her attention was immediately brought to the scene before her. There were maybe less than 35 people in the room and standing with Kabuto in the stage at the front was none other than Orochimaru.

Anko felt her whole body shake with fear as his golden eyes lazily scanned over the crowd before him. He looked absolutely bored as Kabuto talked about something probably important, but Anko couldn't hear what he was saying. She looked quickly around the room trying to focus on something else, however her eyes once again found themselves looking in Orochimaru's direction.

Her breath was caught in her throat when she found Orochimaru's eyes looking in her direction. Her heart began beating faster by the second as she realized that he was staring directly at her. At first, his eyes were squinted, like he was trying to focus, his eyebrows drawn down in a way that made him look slightly confused. But that soon faded as his eyes widened slightly for a second and an evil smirk found its way across his face.

Anko panicked, her head was getting clouded and she felt dizzy under his glare. She knew only one thing at that moment; she had to get out of there. She pushed her way through the crowd feeling sicker by the second as she made her way away from Orochimaru and toward the door.

'This wasn't supposed to happen like this. He shouldn't have noticed me. He shouldn't have!'

Just as Anko pushed her way out of the crowd, she noticed things had gotten awfully quiet since Kabuto wasn't speaking anymore. She reluctantly turned around to face the stage to find Orochimaru no longer there. She felt her heartbeat increase again and she turned around only to bump into something, well rather someone.

Her entire body was clearly shaking as she slowly looked up from the tan clothing to look into the person's face. However, she didn't get a long time to look at him because once she saw those yellow eyes, all she saw next was black.

* * *

_To Be Continued_

_Yay! Chapter 4! Lol. Poor Anko, It doesn't seem like she'll ever get a break. Never the less, this chapter was really fun to write! (No matter how hard it was on Anko.) Oh yeah, whoever can find the significance of Anko's fake name gets a cookie. *Is hit with a brick*_

_So Orochimaru and Kabuto finally make their appearance. Took long enough, right? I mean, even though they really didn't have a big part, they still showed up. But I promise in the next chapter, they'll get have a bigger part._

_Anyway, I hope things are getting interesting for all of you because this is where the story line is going to kick in._

_Also, I want to thank all of those who have reviewed so far. It is your reviews that keep me inspired to write, so thank you all once again! ^^_

_See you all in Chapter 5! _

_Happy Holidays!_


	5. Caught

_Once again, I do not own these characters. I just spend my time coming up with ways to make their lives more difficult._

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 5- Caught

"Oh my, Kabuto," Orochimaru said while holding the limp Anko in his arms, "It appears that we have a spy."

Kabuto smirked at Orochimaru's statement. His attention; however, was focused on the unconscious Anko.

"What do you think we should do with her?" Kabuto asked, his hands rummaging through the sheets of paper he was holding. "Should we send her to the lab for some studies?"

Kabuto lifted his gaze from the stack of paper to look at the sannin, who stared down at the woman in his arms.

"No, no," Orochimaru replied, his lip curled into a smirk. "My little Anko is too special for that, and besides, I'm sure that the Leaf Village had a good reason to send her here."

Orochimaru's gaze didn't leave Anko as he stroked her bangs across her forehead. She subconsciously cringed at his touch, which only caused Orochimaru to slightly tighten the grip that he had on her waist.

"Of course, my lord," Kabuto nodded. As he spoke, he handed one of the sheets of paper to Orochimaru. "I'll take care of the rest of the group while you are gone."

In his state of excitement, Orochimaru had completely forgotten about the group of people around him. They all stood there in either shock or amazement at how Orochimaru was able to detect the spy among them. He slightly frowned, clearly disappointed in their lack of strength and intelligence. How foolish of Anko to possibly think that she could hide herself with the likes of them.

"Kabuto," Orochimaru said only loudly enough for the two of them to hear. "Send them all to the basement when you're done."

"Understood," Kabuto replied, as Orochimaru grabbed the sheet of paper with one of his hands.

Kabuto turned back towards the crowd of people and tried to get their attention. His voice echoed throughout the room as he once again made his place at the front, continuing with the lecture from where he left off.

While Kabuto spoke, Orochimaru picked Anko up in a bridal style and teleported the both of them out of the room, into the main building. As he walked, Anko buried her head into Orochimaru's shoulder causing him to smirk down at her.

"Well now, my dear, you seem to be in quite a bit of trouble." He cooed at her, as one of her hands gripped onto the front of his shirt. "But don't worry. I'll be keeping a close eye on you."

He chuckled darkly to himself as he made his way down the many hallways of his base.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"_Sensei!" A ten year old Anko called out. "Hey, Sensei!"_

_Orochimaru sat beneath a tree with a scroll in his hands. Whenever she found him, he always seemed to have a scroll to read._

_Anko ran up to him and crawled into his lap, a habit that had formed over the time she spent reading with him._

"_What cha reading, Sensei?" she asked as she snuggled into his chest. "Another scroll on jutsus?"_

_Orochimaru chuckled as he placed a hand on top of her head._

"_You know me so well, Anko-chan." He said in a raspy voice. "I'm guessing you want to join me."_

_Anko beamed a smile at him. "Read it out loud to me, Sensei!"_

_She leaned back into his chest as he began reading. However, she wasn't listening to the context of the scroll because the only thing that filled her mind was the soothing sound of his voice._

Anko felt herself slowly regaining consciousness. Her head was spinning slightly as she moved deeper into the covers laid on top of her. Just as she got comfy, the memories of what happened just before she passed out spilled into her mind. Anko sat up immediately, developing a sharp pain in both her head and neck.

"So you're finally awake," An all too familiar voice said through the darkness of the room.

Orochimaru stepped out of the shadows of the corner and made his way toward Anko's bedside. She glared at him as he sat down beside her, clearly not enjoying just how close he was to her.

"You know, my dear, it was pretty foolish of you to try and sneak in here," He said as he caressed her cheek. "I thought I taught you better than that, but perhaps I gave you too much credit. I mean, really, did you think I wouldn't notice that your code name was just your regular name spelled backwards?"

Orochimaru tossed the sheet of paper with the information that she scribbled down, hours before, in front of her.

He laughed slightly at her foolish mistake, his hand traveling from her cheek to slide against her jaw. Anko felt her face flush in embarrassment as she smacked his hand away from her face.

"Bold move, Anko," Orochimaru said as he shifted himself closer so that he was face to face with her. "However, the captive shouldn't treat the captor with such disrespect."

Anko shivered as she felt his breath on her skin. "So what are you going to do with me?" She asked nervously.

He grinned as he moved slightly away so that he remained next to her.

"I've decided to keep a close eye on you, my dear," He said smugly.

"So what does that mean, exactly?" Anko was afraid to hear the answer, yet she asked anyway.

Orochimaru stood up from the bed and opened the drawer on the desk next to them.

"Let's just say that from this moment on, you're going to be under my personal watch," He replied, as he searched through the drawer.

"What!?!" Anko shrieked.

"You heard me," He responded. "Since you wanted to get into the Sound so bad, I let you. This way I can make sure that you don't get into any trouble."

"So I'm going to be with you every waking moment of the day?" Anko asked, feeling her stomach lurch into her throat.

"More or less," Orochimaru slyly replied as he pulled something out of the drawer.

Anko eyed the open door across the room. Why was she just sitting there when she should be running like hell? If he was going to treat her like a prisoner, there was no way that she would go down without a fight. As he turned his back to her in order to work with whatever he just pulled out of the drawer, Anko threw off the covers and made a break for the door.

Orochimaru didn't turn around; he just sighed and leaned onto the desk. He guessed that it would only be fair to give her a head start, not that it would make any difference. He would capture her no matter what, this just made things interesting.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

'Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!' Anko screamed in her mind as she ran down the identical labyrinth of hallways. 'I have absolutely no clue where I'm going. All these damn fucking hallways look exactly the same!'

Her chest felt like it was on fire as she pushed herself to try and run faster.

Kabuto was about to walk out of the door to the kitchen when Anko ran in front of him at full speed.

"What the hell…" Kabuto began until Orochimaru cut in front of him a few seconds later, running quickly after Anko.

As he ran, Orochimaru felt his heart begin to beat faster. He hadn't had this much fun in awhile. He couldn't help the smirk that spread across his face.

Anko, on the other hand, was definitely not having any fun. She could barely feel her legs anymore and she swore she went down this hallway already. She took a sharp left at the end of the hallway that she was running down to come across a huge metal door.

Seeing as this was a dead end, Anko began to open the heavy door.

'Come on, come on,' Anko thought. 'If I don't hurry, he'll catch me for sure!'

Just as she got the door opened just wide enough for her to fit through, a hand came from behind her and closed it effortlessly. The other hand soon followed, preventing her from escaping. Anko felt herself being crushed between the cool metal door and the person behind her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, my dear," Orochimaru whispered to her.

Anko was breathing heavily as she felt her back being pressed against his chest. His hand slid down the door in order the capture her waist and neck in order to pull her closer to him. She squirmed to try and loosen his hold on her, yet her attempts had no affect on him at all.

"Stop being so difficult, Anko," Orochimaru said through her grunts of protest. "If you didn't run off in the first place, I wouldn't be forced to carry you back."

This caused her to kick and squirm even more as he picked her up so her feet were only an inch or two off the floor.

"Let go of me, you bastard!" She yelled while trying to push his arm off her waist. "Put me down."

Orochimaru didn't listen. Instead, he teleported her into a nearby room and sat her down on the table so that her legs hung over the side. He then put his arms on both sides of her, causing Anko to look up at his face. Even though she had the leverage of the table, she was still shorter than him.

"Now be a good girl and sit still," He hissed as he grabbed her right wrist.

She was about to retort back at him when she felt something cold snap around it. She looked down to see a metal cuff wrapped around her wrist and connected to it was a chain that Orochimaru now dangled in front of her face.

"Why the hell did you just cuff my wrist?!" Anko yelled so loudly, she bet the people on the other side of the base could hear her.

Orochimaru smirked, much to Anko's displeasure, before answering.

"Well, I have to do something to make sure that you don't run off. But then again, why should you do that? The prey always knows when it can't outrun the predator."

Anko frowned at him and shook her head slowly. 'God, what was with him and this whole dominance thing?'

"Ok, ok. I get it," Anko said in complete annoyance. "I was doomed the moment I got this mission."

Orochimaru's face light up at the sound of this. "So I was right. It was a mission."

Anko narrowed her eyes at him, clearly upset with how he was having so much fun right now.

"Well, what else could it possibly be? My vacation spot?" Anko spat out at him. "Because I got to tell you, 'Sensei,' this is the last place I would want to spend my holiday."

"Ah, as feisty as ever aren't you, Anko?" Orochimaru chuckled. "But that's what's going to make this so much fun. Come now, there is much to do."

Anko reluctantly slid off the table, seeing as she had no choice in the matter due to her being chained to him. The dim lights in the hallways created light shadows as the two walked, Anko following closely behind Orochimaru.

She was mumbling and swearing to herself quite a bit as she quickened her pace in order to remain close on Orochimaru's heels.

"Why couldn't he have just killed me?"

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_Well there you have it, Chapter 5! This has to be my longest chapter yet, 6 pages on my document, if I'm not mistaken. It also caused me the most trouble. I can't remember how many times I spent rewriting Anko's memory/dream as well as trying to figure out how to end the chapter. In the end, I think that it turned out pretty well._

_Poor Anko-chan, she's been getting a lot of bad luck lately, hasn't she? But don't fret, dear readers, she'll have her fun. Later. Right now she has her mission and herself to worry about._

_Once again, I want to thank all those who reviewed and also congratulate __Sound-nin-Gaiden__ for finding out the significance in Anko's fake name. (Really hard, right?) :P The reviews I get really do make me the happiest person in the world and inspire me to continue writing. So thank you so much for taking the time to write to me._

_Also I want to specially thank Ina-sama for beta reading my story. It makes me really happy to find someone willing to take time out of their busy schedule to look over my story for me._

_Thank you all again!_

_See you in Chapter six!_


	6. Day in the Sound

_I do not own these characters. They just keep me occupied._

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 6- Day in the Sound

"First things first, Anko," Orochimaru lectured. "We must find you a room."

Anko was still mumbling and complaining to herself until Orochimaru stopped suddenly causing Anko to smack into him.

"My dear," Orochimaru teased, "You really have to stop mumbling, because I can't understand a word you're saying."

He turned and leaned down so that his nose brushed lightly against hers. "If you have something you want to say, then you should just say it." The words dripped from his mouth like poisonous venom causing Anko to shudder.

Orochimaru sharply turned around and tugged Anko along through many identical hallways until he brought her to a wooden door which opened to, of course, another hallway. However, this one was different; it was better lit than the other ones and it had five doors, four at the sides of the hallway, then one at the end. The lights were quite dim, of course, but it was brighter than the other hallways.

"Here we are." Orochimaru said as he stopped in front of a door. Anko looked up to see her former sensei turn the knob on the door and push it open. Anko cautiously looked out from behind Orochimaru only the see complete darkness emitting from inside the room.

Orochimaru looked down at Anko, noticing her curiosity. Side stepping so he now stood beside her, he placed his hand on her back and gently pushed her in front of him.

"Ladies first," Orochimaru hissed as he grabbed Anko by her shoulders and shoved her inside the dark room.

Anko felt and soft squeak of surprise escape her lips as she was engulfed by the darkness. She felt herself falling forward so she put her hand out in front of her in order to prevent herself from completely colliding with the ground. The chain on her wrist clanked against the wooden floor as she lifted herself up again. While she was doing this, Orochimaru casually walked into the room like nothing happened.

He turned to his left and flicked the switch up causing the many lanterns around the room to light up. Anko gasped. She was expecting a small grey room of concrete filled with tubes of chemicals and possibly an old, ratty white bed. Instead, she found herself looking into a large room covered in purple accessories.

Across from the door was a queen sized bed with dark purple sheets and three pillows to match. A large purple rug lined with gold was placed under the bed probably for effect. There was a table to the left of the bed that had an unlit candle complementary to the many lanterns on the walls. To the left of the door was a desk and chair that was placed just below the light switch. The desk had a few scrolls and some pens and paper. Next to the desk was a matching dresser that probably went up to the bottom of Anko's chest. On the right side of the room, there was a full length mirror that was set up between two sets of doors. Anko was in complete awe of the room that she didn't notice Orochimaru walking in front of her until he spoke.

"So here is the room you are going to be staying in." Orochimaru stated causing Anko to acknowledge him. "At your right here, is your closet."

Orochimaru slide open the door on the right that was farthest away from the door revealing the empty closet space, it was more than enough space for her belongings. He slid the door closed again and walked past the mirror to the other door tugging at Anko's chain to follow him.

"Then this door is to your bathroom." Orochimaru opened this door for Anko to look inside. The bathroom had a pearl white tiled floor and a squared glass door shower to the left side of the room. Across the shower on the right was a sink and toilet. Above the sink was another mirror that opened to put her toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. in.

Anko looked around in shock, still trying to take all of it in before turning to look back at Orochimaru.

"I get my own bathroom too?" Anko asked, surprised. Orochimaru just shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure, why not?" He replied walking out of the bathroom, motioning for Anko to follow him.

He then picked something up and tossed it at Anko. She caught it soon realizing that it was the bag that she had brought with her.

"Hey! This is my bag." Anko yelled. "How'd you get it?"

"I had Kabuto bring it from the medical center while you were sleeping. I'm surprised that you didn't notice it was missing until now. Maybe you were just too excited to care." Orochimaru smirked at Anko who lowered her head to hide her blush.

'_There's no way I'm excited about spending time with him.'_ Anko told herself. Suddenly she felt Orochimaru grab her wrist and unlock the cuff. She looked up at him as he shoved the metal chain into his pocket.

"Now don't get any ideas, this is only temporary." Orochimaru said as he made his way out the door. "The door will be locked anyway, so you should make yourself comfortable here. Now, go and unpack. I'll be back in two hours."

Anko watched as the door slammed behind Orochimaru with a click. So escaping wasn't an option right now, whatever, she would just have to adjust her plans that's all. No big deal.

Anko tossed her backpack onto 'her' bed and began unpacking. She neatly hung up the five shirts, trench coat, two skirts, and pair of shorts on hangers and placed them in the closet. Then she unpacked her underwear and bras to place it in the dresser. Anko then took out the necklace Kurenai got her. Anko held it in her hand and opened it to look at the picture. However, she didn't look at it long because it made her too sad. She put it back in the box and placed it on the table by her bed.

Well that took maybe twenty minutes. That meant that she still had about an hour and forty minutes. Anko decided that she should take this time to take a shower. God knew she needed one, so she grabbed her trench coat, fishnet, and skirt from her closet before heading into the bathroom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Orochimaru walked into the kitchen where Kabuto sat drinking some orange juice while looking over some forms. Orochimaru didn't think that Kabuto knew of his presence so Orochimaru didn't bother him and kept walking.

"So how's Anko?" Kabuto asked not looking up from the paperwork.

Orochimaru turned to look at the medical ninja who was still focused on his work.

"She's as restless as ever." Orochimaru chuckled.

Kabuto smirked, his eyes still focused on the sheet before him. "Yeah, I saw that when she almost ran me over this morning. The girl's fast, I'll give her that."

"Ah, but she's not fast enough." Orochimaru replied as he reached for a glass out of the cabinet and got himself some water.

Kabuto didn't respond and just wrote down a few things on the sheet before him. Orochimaru pulled out the seat across from Kabuto and sat down.

"So what happened to the others while I was with Anko?" Orochimaru asked, before taking a sip from his water.

"All of them had been sent to the lab." Kabuto replied, scribbling a few more things down.

"Very good." Orochimaru smirked. "They didn't have any potential anyway, just a waste of space.

Kabuto nodded before placing his pencil down and looking up at Orochimaru.

"Speaking of waste of space," Kabuto cautiously began, "What is the purpose of keeping Anko here, anyway? If she's not going to be a lab subject or some kind of hostage, then why bother with her?"

Orochimaru looked up at Kabuto, who anxiously waited for a response.

"Don't fret, Kabuto." Orochimaru spoke smoothly, "She does indeed have her purpose, just be patient."

Kabuto quirked a brow at the snake sanin, clearly not understanding what he meant.

"She can be of great use you know, Kabuto." Orochimaru smirked as he leaned back in his chair. "Those idiots, sending someone who's so vulnerable in her state of mind that she's not sure what to believe anymore. They should have known that she isn't stable. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to fix that."

Orochimaru cast a glance at Kabuto who just shrugged his shoulders.

'_I hope you know what you're doing.'_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The warm water felt so good to Anko, it would have been heaven if it wasn't located in Orochimaru's hide out, but whatever.

The water caressed down her skin as she continued to wash her body with the provided soaps.

'_For a prisoner, I've got it made.'_ Anko smirked. _'I mean really, my own room and bathroom? If this is what it means to have him as a captor then I don't mind being his prisoner.'_

Anko dropped the bar of soap as soon as that thought entered her mind. Did she really just think that? Did she actually think that she didn't mind being _his_ prisoner? Not only did that sound wrong in many ways, but it completely betrayed all of her obligations to Konoha.

Anko took the shampoo and started washing her hair.

'_Come on, I've got to stay focused; can't get distracted by something like this.' _Anko scrubbed her scalp roughly trying to rack her brain for other thoughts. _'First, I have to think of a way to uncover his plans.'_

Anko rinsed her hair and grabbed the conditioner. She still held the bottle as she spread the conditioner throughout her hair and started rinsing it out.

'_Seducing could be a nice method.'_ An annoying voice rang threw her head.

"Argh!" Anko yelled as she threw the conditioner bottle across the shower stall. She had no idea where that thought came from, but it was quite disturbing.

After a few more minutes, Anko turned off the water and grabbed for the soft lavender towels on the rack. She stepped onto the placemat outside the shower and toweled herself off. Wrapping her hair in another towel, Anko started dressing herself in her favorite fishnet and trench coat attire.

Throwing her towels in the hamper, Anko walked out and nearly had a heart attack. There, on her bed, laid Orochimaru looking up lazily at her ceiling. He had his arms behind his head, his legs hung over the side so that his feet were still on the floor.

Upon hearing her shriek of surprise, Orochimaru slowly turned his head to look at her.

"H-How l-long- have y-you…"Anko stuttered only to have Orochimaru smirk at her.

"Maybe ten minutes." He replied, getting up and walking toward her. She flinched slightly as he grabbed her wrist to put the metal cuff back on.

"Speaking of which," Orochimaru continued, "While I was out here, I heard you scream and then something fall, what exactly happened?"

Anko could see a small smile creep across his face as he waited for a response.

"Uh nothing…" She replied quickly, knowing that he probably didn't buy it. A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he let go of her wrist.

"Alright, fine. I won't press for details." Orochimaru sighed. "We have a lot to do anyway, come on."

Anko followed without any protest, glad that he wouldn't press on her issue in the bathroom. Even so, she felt that he knew.

Orochimaru led Anko out of the room and locked it behind him. While he did this, Anko looked around at the other doors.

"I wonder what's behind those other doors." Anko mumbled softly.

"Well the room next to yours is empty," Orochimaru answered; unaware that she wasn't asking him a question. "The one across from your room is Sasuke's, next to his is Kabuto's, then mine is the one on the end."

Anko wanted to throw up. Her room was in the same hallway as his? God, did that suck. Even so, Orochimaru kept walking. Soon they entered, what appeared to Anko as, the kitchen. To her horror, she noticed Kabuto at the counter smirking at the scene before him.

"So Anko," Kabuto began, clearly trying to hold back a laugh, "It appears Orochimaru has you on a tight leash."

He laughed to himself about the little pun, while Orochimaru made no move to even show that he heard it. Anko, on the other hand did, and responded by punching Kabuto right in the nose, causing him to wince in pain.

"Well, Kabuto, what did you expect?" Orochimaru sighed as Anko smiled triumphantly. While Kabuto was ranting on about how she should behave, Orochimaru turned and picked a dango off the counter and handed it to Anko.

"…So she should- Don't reward her!" Kabuto shrieked, blood seeping through his fingers.

"Well, that's all she eats, last time I checked." Orochimaru groaned while Anko hummed to herself as she munched on her favorite treat. That one dango completely changed her day around. Ah, the power of dango.

"Now go heal you nose," Orochimaru said in an annoyed tone. "I don't want your blood all over my floor."

Kabuto grumbled on his way out as he went to go comply with Orochimaru's request. Anko stared at where Kabuto exited until she felt herself being dragged away causing her to drop her finished dango stick.

As they made their way down the halls, Anko ignored the looks she got and kept her head held high. She wanted to save even the slightest bit of dignity she had left, if she had any left. Anko was so caught up in ignoring everyone that she didn't realize Orochimaru made a sharp left while she continued to walk straight. This caused her to be jerked back by the force of the chain. Anko, face flushed in embarrassment, immediately regained her balance and hurried off to where Orochimaru was.

"Come now, Anko," Orochimaru said, his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm in no mood for games."

"I'm not playing any games, you bastard." Anko spat, her eyes narrowing at him.

She immediately regretted saying that, though, when she felt him grab the collar of her shirt and literally drag her down the rest of the hallways. Anko struggled and fought with his grip; however, he would not let go. It would appear that he didn't plan on wasting any more time on her.

After a few minutes of being dragged, Anko felt Orochimaru stop and let go of her shirt. She immediately took the opportunity and stood up, obviously not wanting to be used to wipe the floor anymore. Anko dusted off her trench coat and skirt and went to stand next to Orochimaru as he pushed open the door to, what seemed to be, his study.

Since Anko was admiring the room full of scrolls, she didn't notice Orochimaru tying the end of the chain to the column by the door and sealing it with his chakra. Orochimaru then went to sit at his desk to continue his plans. Anko saw him walking away and went to follow him but was stopped by the restriction of the chain.

"God damn it!" Anko yelled. She was getting really sick and tired of being treated like a dog.

Orochimaru looked up from his plans for a second then went back to his work. Anko, on the other hand, made it her task to pull and cut the chain with her chakra in an attempt to weaken it.

"Why the hell won't it break?" Anko screamed out in frustration, after many attempts to destroy the damn thing.

"Because," Orochimaru said without looking up, "Those chains are made to withstand any amount of chakra. It also blocks any jutsu to try to perform, in other words, you're just wasting your energy."

"Argh!" Anko yelled as she collapsed onto the nearby couch her face buried in the red velvet pillow.

Orochimaru just smirked. He really enjoyed having Anko around, he found to be quite… amusing. However, he needed to get work done and she kept distracting him with her antics.

He heard Anko groan into the pillow again causing him to feel a vein begin to throb in his temple. He was two seconds from getting up from his work to make her shut up when Kabuto opened the doors and walked in.

Anko lifted herself up from the couch to look at Kabuto and snickered when she saw the small bandage placed on the bridge of his nose. Kabuto glared at her, but then brought his attention to Orochimaru as he started speaking.

"What is the reason you are here for, Kabuto?" Orochimaru angrily hissed.

"Um, right, yes." Kabuto cleared his throat, clearly nervous of Orochimaru's attitude. "Sasuke is getting impatient and says that he would like to begin practice now."

Orochimaru took a deep breath and stood up. He never seemed to get anything done around here lately.

Anko chuckled slightly as she began thinking about how Orochimaru, the great snake sanin, was being bossed around by a mere child. She immediately stopped, though, when Orochimaru kneeled down in front of her with his eyes locked on hers.

"What do you find so funny, my dear?" Orochimaru said in a seductive, yet terrifying tone.

"Um, well… you see," Anko stammered, looking nervously around the room. "I… was just thinking that, um…"

Orochimaru quirked an eyebrow at her and stood up.

"Whatever, I probably don't even want to know." Orochimaru sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He then turned toward the column and undid the chain.

"Kabuto, watch Anko-chan while I'm gone." Orochimaru yelled to the boy across the way.

Kabuto nearly choked while Anko screamed out in protest. Orochimaru didn't really care, though, as he began walking toward Kabuto.

"She's your headache now." Orochimaru mumbled shoving the chain into Kabuto's hands. "Good-luck."

Kabuto just stood there dumbfounded as Orochimaru walked calmly out the room. It took Kabuto a moment to take in everything before turning to Anko who was now clawing at the pillow.

"Great," Kabuto sarcastically said, looking at the enraged Anko. "What am I suppose to do with you?"

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_Well chapter six is finally here! I'm so sorry it took me so long to finish this, but school is torture. All of my teachers have been giving last minute assignments before finals so I've only had like two hours of sleep each night. But I have a three day break before finals so I took that chance to write up this chapter and send it out!_

_So anyway about this chapter, I'm sure some people are like 'Whoa, wait, author-lady. I thought this was an Oroanko fic, why is she now spending time with Kabuto?' Well, my readers, all I can say is that you'll find out in chapter 7! X3 _

_Thank you so much for the reviews! I apologize for the long wait, but I assure you, I'm not giving up. I pretty much live and breathe Oroanko fluff, so have no fear, I don't plan to abandon them any time soon! ^^ _

_By the way, I just realized, this is my first chapter of 2009! *Woot* I hope that everyone's year is off to a great start! ^^_

_See you in chapter 7!_


	7. Time with Kabuto

_I do not own these characters. If I did, this story would be canon. ^^_

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 7- Time with Kabuto

"I hate my life!" Anko yelled as she was being dragged away by the one and only Kabuto.

Kabuto pinched the bridge of his nose while gripping the chain with so much force it caused his hand to shake.

"Don't we all?" He muttered. He was clearly upset with his latest task. He was a medical ninja for God's sake! Not a babysitter! Not to mention caring for this girl was definitely going to hold him back on his research, and he couldn't have that happen.

Kabuto continued walking down many hallways, he had work in the lab to do, but he couldn't do it with Anko there. Orochimaru had told Kabuto to watch her, but he also said to get the reports done.

Kabuto sighed. He would either have to forget about the reports for the day, no chance of that, or keep Anko in a spot where she won't get into trouble. Well, her room was definitely out of the question, it was too far from the lab if something were to happen. But where else could he put her? Kabuto's face lit up.

"Hey, Anko," He said with a fake smile. "How would you like to spend some time in the lounge?"

"Lounge?" Anko repeated raising an eyebrow.

Kabuto nodded as he took a left down another hallway. The lounge would be perfect. It was relatively close to the lab but not close enough for her to suspect anything. All he would have to do is put her to sleep for a bit, get his reports done, and then sneak back before she woke up.

Kabuto made a right and opened the door to the lounge. It was a pretty cozy room. It had two purple couches across from each other with table in the center, some bookcases on the surrounding walls, and an unlit fireplace across from the door.

Anko walked in and looked around while Kabuto tied the chain to the leg of the couch. It didn't matter that the chain could probably be easily pulled off from the couch, she'd be asleep anyway, but he'd be sure to lock the door just in case.

"So what do you think?" Kabuto asked curiously.

"It's alright." Anko said as she eyed the bookcase. There had to be some information there, if only she could get away from Kabuto for a bit to look at them.

"So you wouldn't mind if I left you here for awhile so I could…run some errands, would you?" Kabuto asked. It was like the answer to her prayers.

Anko smirked while her back was still to him. _Perfect_.

"I guess not." Anko responded while shrugging her shoulders. In response Kabuto pushed up his glasses. _Everything was going according to plan._

Anko could hear the soft sound of his footsteps as he made his way to the door, but before exiting he turned around.

"Nehanshoujo no Jutsu." He quickly said after he made the hand signs.

"Huh?" Anko asked as she turned around to face him, but he was already out the door and locking it shut.

"He is so strange." Anko murmured as she picked some books off the shelf to begin flipping through. She opened the book on forbidden jutsus, but just as she got to the first page, she began feeling a little tired.

"Chapter 1- Seals." Anko read out loud.

This caught her attention; however she felt her eyelids begin to droop involuntarily on her. She tried to ignore it and focus on the book but the will to sleep was over powering her.

"I'll just close my eyes for a few minutes." Anko told herself as she curled up on the couch. "Just a few…minutes."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kabuto moved away from the door. It had taken his jutsu longer than he expected to take effect; she must have been one amazing ninja. But she was asleep now so everything should be okay. He'd only be an hour, that's all he needed. She would still be asleep and Orochimaru would still be training with Sasuke. Yes, everything would be fine.

Kabuto began walking down the hallway toward the lab. Upon opening the large metal door, he noticed the bodies in their cells sprawled on the ground. Great, they're dead. Oh, well. They'd served their purpose. Kabuto grabbed his knives. Well, he shouldn't leave a perfectly good bodies go to waste.

Kabuto went into a cell and dragged a large, limp man out.

"Well, Taymaki, wasn't it? I bet your wondering how the woman who beat you is." Kabuto said to the dead man. "Don't worry, she's fine. It's all because of Orochimaru-sama's orders that she's getting special treatment. But if I had my way, she'd be down here with the rest of you."

Placing the body of the man on the table, Kabuto made an incision at the chest down the stomach.

"Sadly, it's because of her that I have to hurry with these reports, so I'm sure you won't mind me writing up the report using your organs, correct?" Kabuto snickered. This was always his favorite part of his job.

Pinning back the flesh to look at the perfect pink organs inside, Kabuto took his knives and began his work.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_Anko looked around. This place… this dream, it was really peculiar. It wasn't like all the other dreams she'd had, they were more like memories. This one was kind of creepy. She was alone in a pitch black area; there was no temperature, no scent… absolutely nothing. Anko walked forward, not even the sound of her footsteps was heard._

_Suddenly, out of nowhere there was soft humming, a familiar tune. Anko looked around frantically trying to discover to source of the song. She wanted to make it stop, it was so peaceful and comforting, yet so sad. _

_Anko felt herself push to run faster, she didn't know why, but she felt like something was ahead of her…waiting._

'_Just a little farther!' Anko told herself._

_Anko looked ahead. Now there was a little girl sitting a few feet in front of her. Where has she come from? She wasn't sitting there a moment ago. Her back was toward Anko so she could see a little pony tail sticking up on her head and her maroon shirt was too big for her small frame._

_Anko stared wide eyed at the girl._

'_This girl… She…she's me.' Anko thought, trying to grasp this._

_The humming stopped as the girl turned around to look at her. She smiled at Anko and stood up._

"_Have you seen sensei?" Young Anko asked in a honey-like voice._

_Anko could feel her whole body stiffen at the sound of her younger voice._

"_He's been gone for awhile, and I really want to find him." The little girl continued. Looking around like he just might show up._

_Anko swallowed, feeling her heart pounding inside her chest._

"_Y-You don't want to find him." Anko shakily said. "He'll only destroy you, if you don't get away."_

_Younger Anko looked at her in confusion before her eyes darkened._

"_Then why are you looking for him?" She asked in a bitter-sweet tone. "Why don't you run away?"_

_Anko froze at her younger self's remark._

"_I-It's my mission." Anko stuttered._

_Young Anko tilted her head to the left, letting her bangs fall in front of her right eye._

"_Does your mission involve loving him?" She asked in a sickly tone._

"_Huh? Wha-?" Anko began._

_Anko paused though when she saw a smile stretch across her younger self's face_

"_My sensei's the best! That's why I love him." Young Anko interrupted in a cheery tone, almost as if the previous conversation never happened._

"_I love him as a teacher, but what do you love him as?" she asked with those dark eyes again._

"_Hold on." Anko began again but the younger Anko clearly wasn't paying attention anymore._

_She was crumpling her shirt in her hands and looking around frantically, until something behind Anko caught her eye._

"_Sensei!" the girl cheerfully exclaimed out into the darkness. Anko turned around to see if he was actually there, but there was nothing. Even so, younger Anko ran off._

"_Wait!" Anko called out. But the girl was already gone, leaving her alone again to be engulfed by the darkness._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Anko's eyes shot open only to realize she was still in the lounge.

"Holy shit!" Anko yelled sitting up immediately. "How long have I've been asleep for?"

Anko looked at the clock to see that it had been about a half hour since Kabuto left. Anko quickly grabbed the book that she was originally reading from the floor and picked up from where she left off. Just when she thought she might have something, Kabuto came into the room with a surprised look on his face.

"It's only been forty-five minutes, why are you awake?" Kabuto said as he breathed heavily.

He had run all the way down from the lab to make sure he came back while she was still asleep only to find her wide awake with a book in her hands. Hopefully she didn't find anything that would be of use to her mission.

"What do you mean? How did you know that I was asleep?" Anko all but yelled. Kabuto immediately cursed himself for letting that slip, how foolish.

Anko was livid as she stood from the couch and made her way toward Kabuto.

"Kabuto, you bastard, you did some kind of jutsu to put me to sleep, didn't you!?" She said through her clenched teeth. "That's why I had that weird dream, because you messed with it!"

Kabuto's head snapped up when he heard this.

"What do you mean I messed with your dream?" Kabuto asked, completely confused. "I just put you to sleep for a bit, I had no control over your dreams."

"Well, ummm," Anko began, slightly embarrassed that she accused Kabuto for no reason but shrugged it off. "You still put me to sleep without me knowing, ditched me to run 'errands,' and did, God knows, what else."

Kabuto's back stiffened for a second. He pushed up his glasses up as he looked down.

"Look, I… apologize for leaving you like that but I had some things to attend to." Kabuto admitted quietly.

Anko looked up at him a little shocked that he actually apologized, but then put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight.

"And you couldn't attend to those things with me there, huh?" She replied gruffly. "And what were these things anyway? Did they take place behind that heavy metal door by any chance?"

Kabuto looked up from the ground and stared at her coldly. No matter how much he wanted to lock her up in here, he knew Orochimaru wouldn't permit it. If she entered, it would most certainly have a negative effect on her state of mind. This was probably why Orochimaru wanted to avoid that situation at all costs.

"If I were you, I would forget about that place." He warned. "If you go in there, I can't promise you'll come out alright."

If that was a warning, it was a rather poor one. It only made her want to go in even more. Whatever he and Orochimaru were hiding from her was sure to be important, maybe even beneficial to her mission. Yeah, she definitely had to get in there somehow.

"Ok, Kabuto," Anko said with a fake smile. "Whatever you say."

Kabuto quirked an eyebrow at her but then just shrugged it off before bending down to untie the chain on the sofa. While he did this, Anko swiftly took the book she found on forbidden jutsus and slipped it into the inside pocket on her trench coat. It definitely could come in handy later on.

"So Anko." Kabuto said causing Anko to turn around and look at him. "Since I'm done with my work, is there any place you want to go?"

Anko paused for a second. She would have said that place with the metal door, but Kabuto already made it perfectly clear that she was prohibited from entering there. But that thought hadn't even occurred to her at that time; she had another place that she wanted to see even more.

"I want to see the training grounds."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kabuto was leading Anko toward the training grounds. He told her that it wouldn't be wise to actually enter right now, but she could observe from a window. Anko didn't mind at all. She actually didn't care about what the training ground looked like, what cared about were the people in the training ground.

Kabuto seemed to have caught onto this because he was mentioning Orochimaru quite a bit as they walked. Either that or he was just excited see Orochimaru as well.

"Here we are." Kabuto said as he stood before a relatively big glass window. "See? There are Orochimaru and Sasuke training below."

Anko pressed her hands against the glass and peered down. There were many explosions as Sasuke angrily attacked Orochimaru with multiple tools and jutsus. However the sanin merely side stepped to avoid getting hit. While they trained, Anko could see Orochimaru's lips moving, but she couldn't hear a thing. The room was definitely sound proofed.

Kabuto watched Anko as she stared intensely at Orochimaru. Her breath fogged up the window while her hands clenched every now and then. Kabuto followed her gaze out the window to see what she was so captivated by. She had seemed to forget entirely about him being there, all she saw at that time was Orochimaru.

Kabuto smirked. It appeared that Anko was getting a bit too attached to her former sensei. He had no idea where her sudden emotions came from, but it was quite intriguing. Kabuto shifted himself so that his back was propped up against the window.

"Orochimaru-sama is performing well today, isn't he Anko?" Kabuto asked. His head cocked to the side.

"Of course." Anko breathed lightly in a dream-like state. She was clearly not paying attention.

"You trained under him, correct?" Kabuto continued, speaking in a tone that one would use with a child. He already knew the answer was, but he just wanted to see how she would respond.

Anko just nodded her head in response, her eyes never leaving the training field. It was almost as if she wanted to be out there training with him too.

"Would you say he's a good teacher?" Kabuto smirked, referring to Orochimaru.

"My sensei's the best." Anko excitedly responded without looking away from the window. However, once those words left her mouth, the smile vanished. Anko pushed away from the glass and sharply turned toward Kabuto who stood with his mouth slightly open.

"Kabuto…" Anko warned with a panicked look on her face. She couldn't believe that she had said that; and Kabuto was there, to make matters worse.

"I knew it." He grinned. His back was no longer against the window, but he was positioned so that his whole boy stood facing her.

"Kabuto!" Anko warned him again with more force this time.

"I can't believe that you still think of him as your sensei!" Kabuto continued, not paying attention to her serious tone. "Just wait untill he hears-"

Anko didn't give Kabuto the chance to finish what he was saying because she sent her fist right into his nose. A crack was heard as Kabuto was sent flying back into the wall from the force of the hit.

"Damn…" Kabuto coughed as he staggered up from the floor and held onto the wall for support. "You held back last time."

The blood was flowing heavily now that he was standing up causing Kabuto to put his sleeve under his throbbing nose.

"I want to go back to my room, now." Anko scowled while looking at the floor. Her bangs covered her eyes as her fists clenched at her sides to try and hold back everything she was feeling at that moment.

Kabuto looked at her a bit before gathering himself against the wall in order to make his way toward her.

Picking up the chain, Kabuto led Anko out the door and into the dimly lit hallways. Neither of them spoke on their way back; Kabuto, because he was too scared of getting hit again and Anko, because she was too embarrassed to hear what he might say.

The tension between them was thick at that moment. The unbearable silence was only interrupted through the sound of their shoes tapping again the floor and the sound of material brushing against each other. Stopping in front of her room, Kabuto opened the door and let her inside. Unlocking her chain, Kabuto shoved the metal cuff in his pocket and went to go work with the lock on her door.

Hesitating for only a second, Anko turned toward the young medical ninja.

"Kabuto," Anko spoke softly as he turned to leave. "I'm not feeling well."

Kabuto, still holding his sleeve to his face, turned toward Anko. He knew this was a complete lie, but felt the need to ask if she wanted an examination anyway.

"I'm going to rest a bit." She continued before he had time to speak. "So I want to be left alone for awhile."

"Of course Anko-san." He said while bowing mockingly toward her. "I'll be sure to inform Orochimaru-sama of your… current state."

Slamming the door forcefully behind him and locking it, before she had a chance to question what he meant, Kabuto smirked as he made his way down the hallway toward the kitchen. He couldn't wait to tell Orochimaru-sama about his time with Anko.

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_Well there you go, the long awaited Chapter 7! I actually wrote this entire chapter with my Orochimaru plushie on my lap and my sound ninja head band tied around my waist. Originally when writing this, I had absolutely no idea on what to do. (Curse you writer's block!) But once I had my little Orichi-kun by me, *pets his head* ideas started flooding in._

_Anyway, since I'm in such a good mood, I'm going to respond to my amazing unsigned in reviewers. This is because a lot of the reviews I got on the last chapter seriously made my heart swell up in joy. (Thank you so much!) :)_

_Snowy Sakura- Thank you so much for review. It made me so happy to read that you were excited for the next chapter. I hope this one was just as satisfying! ^^_

_.- Your review actually made me laugh. Thank you so much! ^^_

_Acw- You, my friend, make me a very happy writer. *hug* I apologize for the long waits that I make you go through but I try to make it up through the content in the chapter. Even so, it pleases me to read that you find this story amusing because that means I'm doing my job as an author. Thank you so much for sticking with me! ^^_

_RAINBOWPINKIEPOO#28759362241.5- I found your review to be so sweet. Seriously, when I read it I choked up. Thank you so much for the support and encouragement it really means a lot to me. _

_Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews!  
__See you in Chapter 8!_


	8. Lovesick

_Nope. I still don't own the characters._

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 8- Lovesick

Orochimaru walked down the labyrinth of hallways toward the kitchen. As usual, Sasuke was being difficult during training, always ignoring what everyone said and even thinking of himself to be so powerful that only the snake sanin could fight him.

Orochimaru sighed. This boy was quite a handful. Not like Anko was. Well, she was a handful at times too, but she didn't have that depressing, rude attitude like that Uchiha boy. No, she was much more lively and outgoing. Even though she might have spaced out at times, she had never flat-out disrespected him.

Orochimaru paused in mid-step. Anko…he might want to check up on her and Kabuto. Orochimaru would never admit it but he really didn't want to leave her like that. No matter how annoying she could be she was still his Anko-chan. Besides, he didn't want her to find anything that could be…troublesome.

Orochimaru turned around the corner to enter the kitchen. Much to his surprise, he saw Kabuto sitting at the table icing his face. Just Kabuto, Anko was nowhere in sight.

"Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto exclaimed, putting the icepack down on the table. "You'll never-"

"Kabuto, where's Anko? I told you to watch her." Orochimaru impatiently said, cutting Kabuto off in midsentence.

Ignoring the interruption, Kabuto began again. "I did. And while I was with her-"

"And what happened to your clothes? There's blood on them." Orochimaru bluntly stated.

Kabuto was about to respond but Orochimaru held up his hand to stop him.

"Let me guess. You pissed Anko off again so she punched you in the face, correct?" Orochimaru sighed. "Really, Kabuto, I thought you knew better than to make the same mistake twice."

Orochimaru shook his head in disapproval, but was slightly smiling in amusement at Anko's actions.

"If I could, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto explained, calmly. "There's an interesting reason for why she hit me again."

This perked Orochimaru's interest. He sat down at the chair opposite of Kabuto.

"Oh really?" Orochimaru inquired. "And what reason is that?"

Kabuto smirked glad to finally have Orochimaru's attention.

"When I was showing Anko around, I asked her where she would like to go and she said she wanted to see the training ground." Kabuto began. Orochimaru lifted an eyebrow at him, wondering where he was going with this.

"So?" Orochimaru questioned. "She probably just wanted to know where it was so she could train later or something."

"Well, if you ask me she wasn't quite interested in the room." Kabuto grinned as he spoke.

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed at Kabuto.

"Stop implying things and just tell me what happened." Orochimaru hissed. He was tired of Kabuto playing around instead of just getting to the point.

"Ahem. Anyway," Kabuto cleared his throat before speaking again. The happy attitude he had was now gone. "While we were there Anko was acting a bit…different."

"How so?" Orochimaru responding. He was leaning forward now with his chin in his hand.

"Well, when I was talking to her, she answered like she was only half there." Kabuto continued while pushing his glasses. Realizing that Orochimaru still didn't understand what he was getting at, Kabuto decided to explain a little more.

"She punched me because she didn't want you to find out what she had said." Kabuto concluded.

"And what did she not want me to find out?" Orochimaru pressed as Kabuto picked up the ice pack and placed it back on his nose.

"That she still thinks of you as her sensei." Kabuto bluntly stated, slightly smiling for being able to get his revenge on Anko for hitting him. "I can tell that she is definitely experiencing some turmoil within herself over her feelings for you. Like you said before, she is unstable, even though right now she seems more confused than anything."

Orochimaru was silent for a bit, not making any movement. Anko still thought of him as her sensei? How…interesting. Soon a smirk came across his face, followed by a dark chuckle. God she was amusing, just when he thought that he had her figured out, she does something else that he wouldn't expect. This would be a perfect time for him to act.

"Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked, wondering what he was thinking about.

"Where's Anko?" Orochimaru asked suddenly.

"Well, she claimed that she wasn't feeling well and wanted to rest in her room." Kabuto answered, slightly confused.

Orochimaru stood up and walked toward the door. Realizing where he was going, Kabuto stood up too.

"She also told me that she wants to be left alone for a bit." Kabuto said, dropping the ice pack to catch up with Orochimaru at the door.

"Well if she's not feeling well, then I have to make sure she's alright." Orochimaru chuckled. "I wouldn't want her condition to take a turn for the worse."

Kabuto stopped, upon realizing double meaning behind that sentence.

"Of course not, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto smirked while watching Orochimaru exit the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Anko lay face down on her bed. She really had to get all of her thoughts organized. One minute she detests being near Orochimaru then the next she finds herself longing for his attention and even going as far as calling him sensei. Did she really feel that she still had that type of relationship with him?

Anko grabbed the pillow and shoved it over her head. Clenching her eyes tightly together she felt her mind racing. He is the enemy of Konoha, an S-Class criminal. He is cruel and heartless, obviously only thinking of himself, so why was she fighting with herself over him? How could she possibly go from absolutely hating him to loving him all in two days? Anko's breath caught in her throat as she sat up on the bed while clutching the pillow to her chest.

"Is that it?" Anko quietly asked herself. "Do I really love him?" Anko felt her heart clench as she buried her face in the pillow.

"When did it start? Did it develop from my fascination with him as a child? Or when I became obsessed with finding him after he left?" Anko felt her stomach churn as these thoughts ran though her mind.

Tears threatened to fall as Anko sat up. Wiping at her cheeks in case some tears had made their way out, Anko blinked back the water that was left in her eyes. Looking to the desk, she grabbed the necklace Kurenai gave her and opened it to the picture. However, instead of finding comfort in it, she felt sadness and guilt.

"God, Kurenai, I don't know what to do." Anko whispered. "My mind is so fucked up over everything. I have to stay loyal to Konoha, but every minute I spend here draws me closer and closer to Orochimaru. And…and the strangest part is…I like it. I want to be close to him, I…just don't know anymore."

Anko was silent for a bit, almost as if she was expecting a response. However, after awhile she closed the heart shaped locket and lied down on the bed. Slinging an arm over her eyes Anko's feelings once again fought against each other, her heart swelling up in pain.

"What should I do? Orochimaru, I'm so confused." Anko choked out, tears once again forming in her eyes. "Help me, sensei. I'm scared. I'm so scared."

Tears fell down her cheeks as Anko sniffled while wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Her head was pounding and her heart felt as if it would burst through her chest. Clutching the necklace tightly in her hand, Anko held it close to her ear in order to hear the soft rhythmic ticking.

Anko was so lost in thoughts that she didn't sense the immense flow of chakra making its way down the hall. She just closed her swollen eyes and tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her head.

She was half asleep when her bedroom door opened quietly and a figure walked in. Anko could feel him drawing closer to her, but she was too tired to actually move to show that she was awake. Her back was facing toward the figure when she felt him lean on her bed and brushed her bangs aside with a cool hand.

Anko subconsciously leaned into the touch, quietly moaning. The hand slid from her forehead and down to her jaw caressing her skin with a light feathery touch. Anko parted her tired eyes to look at the person at her bedside. Even though the figure looked blurry to her, she could still tell that it was Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru?" Anko mumbled out, her stomach making a slight jump.

"Oh, so you're awake?" Orochimaru quietly said to her, in a silk-like tone. Anko felt her heart beat faster at the sound of his voice. Was it always like that, so comforting and gentle?

Orochimaru shifted himself closer to Anko so that he now sat beside her on the bed. This caused her to groggily sit up to face him. Upon noticing their close proximity, she felt her face get hot. She was glad that the lights were off so he probably couldn't see just how red her face probably was.

"I heard you weren't feeling well." Orochimaru said. "If something is wrong, we should get Kabuto to look at you."

Anko suppressed a moan when she felt him place his hand on her forehead again.

"Hmm…Maybe you have a fever, you feel a bit warm." Orochimaru continued, his hand sliding past her face to trail down her arm. This caused Anko to pull in a shaky breath.

"N-no, I'm fine, really. I just need some rest, that's all." Anko hastily breathed out.

Orochimaru lifted an eyebrow questionably at her before reaching over to push her trench coat off her shoulders.

"What are you doing?" Anko shrieked, slightly surprised at the sudden action.

"Well if you're going to rest, you shouldn't be wearing your coat." Orochimaru calmly stated as he pulled the rest of the coat from her and tossed it to the side. Anko slowly let out another sigh her eyes fluttering shut as she felt his hands linger down her arms. However, soon she felt him reaching across her to pick something off the bed. Cracking her eyes open she saw him holding her necklace that she dropped a few moments ago.

"Hey! That's mine! Give it to me!" Anko said in a panicked tone. Orochimaru didn't listen to her pleas and just held it farther away from her causing Anko to sprawl across his lap in an attempt to reach it.

Ignoring Anko's squirming, Orochimaru opened the locket to see a picture of five familiar leaf ninjas.

"Your friends in Konoha?" Orochimaru questioned causing Anko to stop and look up at him.

"Yeah? So?" Anko mumbled as she rested her head on his knee. Orochimaru shut the locket and dangled it in front of her face so that it brushed against her nose.

"I just didn't think that you would be the type of person who would get attached to people like that." Orochimaru responded, still holding onto her necklace.

"I was attached to you, wasn't I?" Anko mumbled, holding her hand out to stress the point that she wanted the locket back.

"Well, that's different." Orochimaru stated as he dropped the cold metal into her palm. "I was your sensei, you pretty much _had _to be attached to me."

"My…sensei…" Anko repeated slowly while clutching the necklace in her hand. Orochimaru looked down at her to see a slightly pained look on her face while her eyes looked out at nothing in the dark room.

Sliding his hands under her arms, Orochimaru lifted Anko off of his lap and repositioned her so that her head rested up against his chest. Anko's eyes were wide. Never in her whole life would she have expected to be close to Orochimaru in such a gentle way just like all those years ago.

"You need to rest." Orochimaru said quietly as he brushed her bangs to the side. "Just go to sleep now."

Anko didn't even try to push him away. Instead she curled into his embrace, taking his scent in. She could hear his heat beating slowly in his chest, unlike hers.

'_This is nice…' _Anko thought as she closed her eyes. His hand continued to stroke her hair, trying to calm her down so that she could sleep. _'I want to stay like this…'_

Orochimaru paused when he heard her steady breathing. Once he was sure that she was asleep, he gently opened her fist to get the necklace and placed it on her night stand. Carefully, so that he wouldn't wake her, Orochimaru slide away and placed her head on the pillow. He took a moment to look down at his former student. Her mouth was slightly curved up at the corners and a soft sigh escaped her lips. Orochimaru smirked.

'_I seemed to have gained her favor. To think that just by treating her like I did when I was her sensei could result in such a way. Anko, my dear, you are quite a wonder.'_

"Sensei…" Anko sighed out quietly, causing something to twist inside of Orochimaru. He frowned slightly while crossing his arms over his chest. It felt weird to him when she said his title like that after all these years. Yes, he wanted her to prefer him over Konoha, but when she sounded like that…

Orochimaru shook his head and stepped away from the bed to pick her trench coat off the floor. He realized that the coat was a bit heavy on one side, but chose to ignore it. She probably just had some dango treats or something in her pocket that she wanted to save for later. Slinging it over the chair, Orochimaru went to leave when something caught his eye. A piece of paper was sticking out of her backpack so Orochimaru pulled it out of the pocket to look at it.

He was a little shocked to see that it was a picture of him and Anko when he was her sensei. He still had his picture, but he was surprised that she had kept hers all these years. He had half expected her to burn it or something like that, but she had kept hers and brought it with, none the less.

Orochimaru turned to look at the bundle of sheets, where Anko was, rise and fall with the movements of her breathing.

"I'm going to have to be more careful." Orochimaru whispered to himself. "I don't want her to get too attached."

Looking down at the picture, Orochimaru slipped it back into the backpack pocket and turned to leave out the door.

Walking toward his room Orochimaru put a hand to his head.

"But more importantly, I have to make sure I don't get attached to her as well."

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_Well…This chapter took way longer than I expected…^^; I hope that I haven't lost everyone due to my ignorance, but time really slipped away from me. So I apologize for that. But I think that this chapter turned out quite well! Hopefully it was worth the wait for all of you._

_Anyway, I hope that Orochimaru's motives right now are clear, but just in case I'll explain it a little here. Ok, so the reason for why he acted the way that he did was because he wanted to use her unstable feelings to his advantage. If he gains her favor, he feels that she will become loyal to him once again. But what he doesn't want is for his feelings to get in the way. So yeah, I don't want to spoil anything for future chapters so I'll stop there._

_Thank you all for the reviews! They really make me a happy person! ^^_

_See you all in Chapter 9!_


	9. The Bet

_I do not own any of the characters that are in this chapter. _

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 9- The Bet

"Sensei…" Anko sighed as she snuggled into the pillow. She paused for a second, taking a minute to process this. Wait…pillow? Anko opened her eyes to see that Orochimaru was not where he was before she fell asleep. She took a moment to look around the dim room just to see if by any chance he was there. Anko frowned as she slouched forward.

"It's not like I'm disappointed or anything." She mumbled. "I really didn't expect him to spend the night here, anyway."

Taking one last look, Anko sighed. Pushing her messy hair out of her eyes, she stretched her back and arms before walking barefoot toward her closet to get another shirt. Quickly slipping out of the old one and putting on a new one, she threw the old shirt into the bottom of her closet to deal with later.

Turning around, Anko looked for her last missing article of clothing.

"Now whatever happened to my trench coat?" Anko questioned, remembering how just hours before Orochimaru slipped it off her and threw it somewhere. Anko's face reddened when she recalled just how familiar she made herself with him.

"Ugh. How foolish, getting myself worked up over such a little thing." Anko grumbled as she pushed her bangs out of her eyes.

Walking back towards her bed she realized that her coat was hung neatly on the back of the chair.

"So that's where it went!" Anko exclaimed as she snatched it from the chair. Feeling something heavy in one of the pockets, she remembered the book that she had thrown in there just the day before. Digging through the material of her coat, she found the book and hopefully key to her mission.

Anko held it tightly in her hands however she soon questioned whether or not she should open it. She quickly caught herself though and roughly shook her head.

"What am I thinking? I have a mission to complete!" Anko angrily told herself. "This is no time for me to be second guessing my orders."

She paused again as she held tightly onto the book.

"They're the enemy of Konoha…" Anko solemnly reminded herself.

She was soon pulled out of her thoughts when she felt a familiar mass of chakra making its way toward her room. Quickly jumping onto her bed, Anko pushed the book under the pillows right before her door opened.

"Good morning, Anko." Kabuto said as he walked in. "I'm glad you're up and dressed. Orochimaru-sama has requested for you to come to the training grounds as soon as possible."

"Training grounds?" Anko repeated. "What for?"

"You'll find out if you just come with me." Kabuto coldly responded. She guessed that he was still mad at her for punching him.

Breathing in deeply Anko held back the urge to start an argument with him. Doing that would only lead to complications and that was the last thing she needed right now. After getting herself under control, she attempted to come at this peacefully.

"All right, fine." Anko sighed as she got out of her bed and walked toward him. "I won't start a fight about this."

She held out her wrist to him which surprised Kabuto. He didn't think that she would follow orders so freely from him because of what happened the day before. Looking up at her, Kabuto just shrugged his shoulders and snapped the cold metal back into place.

Anko rubbed her wrist with her free hand in a pain. Unlike Orochimaru, Kabuto wasn't gentle when putting the restraint on her. She continued focusing on her sore wrist when she felt it jerked forward. She looked up to see that Kabuto was already out the door and was waiting for her to do the same. Glaring in his direction Anko quickly made her way out of her room, not wanting to leave him waiting any longer.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Wait a minute, Kabuto!" Anko yelled. He was really rushing her to move, it was like if they didn't reach the training grounds right that second the world would explode or something. Seriously this boy needed to relax once in awhile. Every time she saw him he was always working or following some kind of order. He paused in mid-step, quickly turning around to glare at Anko.

"What now?" Kabuto yelled in frustration. So far she had forced him to stop many times so that she could eat, get something to drink, or take a piss. Kabuto was already exhausted by her and it had only been two days. He began to wonder how Orochimaru could put up with such a person for five years.

"I just wanted you to slow down that's all. No need to pop a blood vessel or anything." Anko spat out at him. She knew that she didn't want to start an argument, but when Kabuto was like this, it was hard not to.

"Well, we can't slow down." Kabuto retorted. "You've wasted enough time already with your shenanigans."

"Sorry I have to eat." Anko sarcastically remarked, her anger rising by the second. Maybe it would be better to get to the training grounds soon, a few more minutes with Kabuto, and Orochimaru just might lose his best medical ninja.

Anko swiftly walked past him, wanting to get away from the brat as soon as possible. Just a few feet behind her, Kabuto was restraining himself from killing Anko right there. He knew that Orochimaru had plans for Anko, but Kabuto was beginning to question if this was really worth it.

Both were at each other's throats by the time they reached the doors to the training grounds. It was times like this when Anko wished she still had her Kunai knives, but sadly she had discovered that either Orochimaru or Kabuto must have taken them some time she arrived here.

Taking his anger away from Anko, Kabuto pulled open the wide door to the training ground. Stepping inside, Anko found Orochimaru lecturing Sasuke about something in the middle of the field. His back was to her, so she couldn't tell whether or not Orochimaru was aware of her presence. Anko quickly started walking toward Orochimaru however she felt herself being jerked back after taking a few steps.

"No need to be anxious, Anko." Kabuto teased meticulously. She just rolled her eyes at him and stepped back. She actually didn't know why she had tried to make her way toward Orochimaru a few moments ago, but didn't want to say anything more about it. Instead she decided to get her mind off the subject by observing the room around her.

It was actually pretty bright, unlike the rest of the place. It also had many plants too, such as trees and grass. It sort of reminded her of the training grounds in Konoha, however this one seemed to be in much better condition despite that fact Orochimaru and Sasuke probably sent many bombs and fire at each other during training.

Anko was staring up at the ceiling when she suddenly felt a pair of arms snake around her waist. She gasped slightly, refusing to turn around to see who it was, though she already had a good guess.

"You let your guard down." Orochimaru said teasingly. "You must be starting to feel comfortable here."

Anko scoffed at this, trying to ignore the flips her stomach was making. She gripped his forearm in an attempt to get him to let go, but he didn't seem to get the message. Instead he just casually turned to Kabuto, still holding onto her.

"So what took so long?" Orochimaru asked while Anko squirmed, sadly her breasts were too big to slip down from his grasp.

"Let's just say Anko took a few detours." Kabuto responded, pushing his glasses further up on his nose. He looked at Anko who decided, after her failed attempt to escape, to let her feet slip out from under her so that Orochimaru was supporting all of her weight. _'What a child.'_

Orochimaru didn't seem to notice as he continued talking.

"Well, I have Sasuke set in his training. I told him to work on his stamina and strength for awhile in the weight room before we continue."

He glanced down at Anko who looked absolutely board with their conversation already. He smirked at her childish behavior. Now would be a good time to put his plans into action. Releasing her waist, she fell onto the floor.

"Anko," Orochimaru said causing her to turn her head in order to look up at him. "How about we make a bet?"

"A bet?" She asked wondering what was bringing this up. Even Kabuto raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yes, my dear, a bet." Orochimaru repeated. Anko brushed herself off and turned to face him while crossing her arms over her chest.

"So what happens in this…bet?" Anko questioned, suddenly curious of his motives.

Orochimaru's smirk grew wider, glad to have captured her interest so soon.

"You and I will have a one on one battle, no jutsus, just hand to hand combat." He began. "If you are able to cut me at all with one of your kunai knives before you run out, I'll remove that chain from your wrist."

Anko's eyes widened. This was her chance to get a little more freedom around here, but a fight with Orochimaru?

"You mean you'll let me go, just like that?" Anko inquired suspiciously, something about this felt off.

"I'm not going to let you just run back to the Leaf village, but I'll give you some more freedom around here." Orochimaru replied, crossing his arms over his chest and shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"So what's in it for you?" Anko asked curiously.

"Well let's just say it's for my pure enjoyment." Orochimaru smirked. "And besides, this way I can see you spray that red blood that I love."

Anko growled. She knew he probably had another reason for this bet, but for some reason he wasn't saying anything.

"Don't worry, Anko. I won't kill you." Orochimaru replied, believing that was why she was hesitating. "It will be like good old times. Like another spar… between sensei and pupil."

Anko visibly flinched when he said those last few words. That damn Kabuto probably told Orochimaru all about her little slip up yesterday, oh she going to kill that boy. She glared over at Kabuto who had suddenly found a great fascination with his shoes. She was a second from punching the medical ninja's face in, when Orochimaru spoke again.

"So do you agree, Anko?" His lips curled up slightly as he waited for her response. Looking up back up at him, she saw his eyes filled with amusement. For some reason, the way he looked at her like that made her heart flip in her chest. Anko's voice failed her so slowly lifted her arm to him.

Her breathing was rigid and shaky as she held out her hand. His smirk turning up even further, Orochimaru quickly grabbed her hand and shook it hard, sealing their deal and making Anko aware that there was no turning back.

His hand lingered on hers for a bit longer than was necessary. In this time Anko noticed how cold his hand was as well as how she enjoyed the feeling of his grip on her hand. She was snapped out of these thoughts though when she felt him pull back. Quickly pulling away as well, Anko tried to hide her embarrassment that was clearly written all over her face.

While she was looking away from him, Orochimaru gently took her wrist and unlocked the cuff, throwing it to Kabuto. He then nodded to Kabuto who bowed and transported himself away, leaving Anko and Orochimaru alone.

"Remember, Anko," Orochimaru reminded her, ignoring her flushed face and placing a pouch of kunai knives in her hand. "Don't let your guard down."

With that he vanished and the fight began.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Anko's heart was beating fast as she quickly made her way out of the open field to better disguise herself among the leaves of the trees. Great, she hadn't expected him to vanish like that, now he had the element of surprise on his side. She had her back firmly against the bark of the tree stay perfectly still to try and make out a sound of even the slightest movement.

Seeing a shine of metal out of the corner of her eye, Anko quickly jumped down from the branch, landing swiftly on her feet and moved just in time to avoid another knife that was flying toward her. She threw a kunai back at where the other weapon came from, but there was nothing. However, she felt something quickly come up behind so she twisted herself around to block the punch Orochimaru threw at her.

He had surprisingly revealed himself, thus losing his surprise attack. It wasn't like him to do that, but Anko didn't dwell on the thought and twisted her leg up to try and kick his right shoulder. Sadly, he blocked the attack like it was nothing; catching her ankle, Anko let her hand fall to the ground to support her weight as she swung her other leg up to kick his hand away.

This caused him to lose his grip on her and take a few steps back to regain his balance. Upon being released, Anko quickly jumped back up ready to fight. She ran full speed at him, kunai in hand when he merely side stepped right before she made contact with him.

Grabbing hold of her wrist he guided her hand past him and slid one of his legs behind hers so that her weight shifted back causing her to step backwards. Pressing himself closer to her chest, his lips just inches from her own, she felt as though they were moving in slow motion. She could feel his hot breath on her lips and she resisted the urge to press her lips to his right there.

The moment was gone in a flash, though, when he smirked, slipped the kunai knife from her hand, and kicked her to the side.

"You let your guard down." Orochimaru pointed out as he looked down at her, twirling the knife around his finger. She felt some blood slide down her chin but just growled at him and sat herself back up into a fighting position.

Charging at him once again and throwing more knives, Anko gave it her all just to get even a scratch on the sanin. Sadly, she was soon down to her last two kunai and was exhausted, she could see Orochimaru breathing heavily too, but he didn't look as bad as she did. She definitely needed to surprise him if she wanted to win this bet; she had to do something he wouldn't expect.

He was coming at her quickly again, when an idea began to form. She didn't know how well it would work, but she didn't have many options left. Gathering the kunai in her hand Anko charged back at him, propelling herself off a nearby tree, Anko threw the kunai down which, like all the rest, he avoided. However she didn't stop there when her feet touched the ground she continued running at him, not taking any stance to hit him. Orochimaru tried to take advantage of her defenseless state, when she did something he didn't expect. She jumped forward at him wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head into his chest, knocking him down to the ground.

Orochimaru felt his back hit the ground and something cut against his arm. He turned his head to see the kunai she had just thrown sticking out of the ground, leaving the edge exposed.

She now lifted her head and was smiling at him, clearly happy that her plan worked. She was breathing heavily as she remained on top of him, her hands rested on his chest. Orochimaru sat up causing her to be pushed back so that she now straddled him.

Pulling the kunai out of the ground, Orochimaru grabbed Anko's hand and wrapped it around the weapon.

"Just for future reference," he lectured, fixing the position of her hand around the knife, "you should hold a kunai like this to have more control so you won't have to resort to methods like that."

His hand wrapped around hers, holding it tightly in place so she could get the feeling for the proper way to hold it. It reminded her of when she was younger and was just getting used to the variety of supplies however, this time it felt different. This time, she felt something inside her spark in excitement every time she got close to him. There was something there now that made her think of him as more than just her sensei.

She was brought back to her senses when she felt him push her off him and stand up. She soon did the same, brushing her skirt off, and pushing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Well, a bet's a bet, Anko." Orochimaru sighed in exhaustion. "You may not have that chain anymore, but don't think that I'm not going to keep an eye on you."

Anko was about to respond when Kabuto appeared in the room.

"Congratulations on the win, Anko." Kabuto said coldly. She just acknowledged his statement with a shrug, not wanting to speak to him. There was a silence between the three of them causing the atmosphere to grow painfully heavy. Feeling Kabuto was dying to say something without Anko's presence, Orochimaru spoke up.

"Anko." Orochimaru said in a velvet tone. "Why don't you head back to your room and clean up? You know the way back, right?"

She stared at him questionably before nodding and turning to leave obediently. Once they heard the door firmly close Kabuto turned to Orochimaru.

"Why did you let her win?" Kabuto asked, cutting right to the chase. "She's bound to discover something sooner or later if we let her just walk around."

Orochimaru let the blood from his wound slide onto his fingertips as Kabuto spoke.

"In order to gain trust, one must receive it first." Orochimaru simply stated before licking the blood from his fingers and heading out the door.

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_Wow. This took much longer than I thought. I really have to stop losing track of time… Anyway, this chapter went though tons, and I mean tons, of revisions. The ideas were basically the same, but it was just how I was going to phrase it that got to me._

_Also I took a quote from the manga a put in here. I had a different person say it, but it's the same words. Can you find it? XD_

_I should also probably take a moment to point out that this is indeed a __M __rated fic. Why am I saying this? Well, why else. XD I'm just giving you all the heads up for the next chapter is all._

_I want to thank all my dedicated readers for taking the time to read and review my story. It is because of you that I now have over 1,500 hits. _

_Thank you all so much and I'll see you in Chapter 10!_


	10. Just This Once

_I do not own any of these characters._

_WARNING! Mature content partakes in this chapter. Those who are not fond of sexual scenes should be wary of the action and dialogue throughout this chapter._

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 10- Just This Once

Anko strained her eyes in order to try and see even a few feet ahead of her in the dimly lit hallway. She thought that she had a basic idea of where to go from the training grounds, however it seemed that her sense of direction hadn't improved one bit from the first day she arrived.

Anko sighed out in frustration; she had no idea where she was or even if she did something other than walk in a complete circle. Leaning her back against the wall and sliding down to the floor, Anko buried her face into her knees and groaned.

"Now what?" She sighed out, yet her voice was muffled by her knees. Peering over the top of her legs, Anko's eyes once again scanned the scene around her. Maybe she could find something that looked at least a little familiar.

Craning her head to the left in order to look down another hallway, Anko's eyes fell upon a door. But it wasn't just any door; no, this was the metal door that she had stumbled upon earlier in her arrival. This was the door that Kabuto had warned her about and the one the Orochimaru stopped her from entering.

Anko scrambled from her sitting position on the floor in order to shakily stand up on her feet. Her eyes were wide as she fought with herself on whether or not to go toward it. Anko shakily took one step, her mind screaming to heed Kabuto's warning and turn back.

Swallowing hard, Anko took another step causing her vision to blur and her head to pound. She slowly made her way closer and closer to the door while bracing herself against the wall. By the time she was less than a foot away, her curse seal was acting up causing pain to course throughout her body.

Anko clutched at her neck, suddenly aware of how close she was to the door. Her hand was on the handle, gripping it tightly and ready to open it at her command. Anko could feel her heart was beating rapidly and her entire body was shaking in both fear and excitement.

Anko took a deep breath and leaned her head against the cool metal. Her seal was flaring widely now causing Anko to feel like fire was spreading throughout herself. She winced quietly and slowly loosened her grip.

Anko took a few steps away, but her eyes never left the door. However, once she was back where she originally started, she took many shaky breaths and broke into a run in order to get as far away from the door as possible.

'_I was so close, damn it! Why did I hesitate?'_ Anko mentally scolded herself. Her eyes were tightly closed in shame, so when she subconsciously made a left, she didn't realize that there was someone else in the hallway as well.

Anko let out a squeak of surprise when she felt herself run into the firm frame of another person. She felt herself lose her balance from the force of the hit and slightly fall backward, though the other person didn't seem to have been affected at all. Feeling all her weight slip past the heel of her foot, Anko reached out quickly in front of her in order to grip onto the person's shirt for support. This caused them to wrap their arms around her waist and pull her towards them.

Since she was no longer falling, Anko lifted her head up from being buried in the person's shirt in order to see who it was that was holding her. She brought in a sharp breath, though, when she looked to the person's face to see a pair of golden eyes widely staring back into her brown ones.

"It's nice to see that you were heading back to you room, Anko." Orochimaru sarcastically said after a long moment of silence past between them.

Anko frowned at him while still holding onto the front of his shirt. She realized that they were still painfully close together but refused to let go just yet.

"I wasn't doing anything wrong," Anko angrily replied. "I just got a little lost, that's all."

She softly spoke that last sentence so it was barely audible, but Orochimaru heard her anyway.

"Lost, now?" Orochimaru questioned seductively as his lowered his head slowly down to hers. "You mean to tell me that you still don't know where you're going?"

Anko felt her knees shake slightly when his forehead pressed against hers. She was glad that he was holding her up because she was sure that she would've collapsed right there if he wasn't.

"No, I don't," Anko replied breathlessly, her eyes never once leaving his.

She felt him shift slightly so that she was now trapped between him and the wall. Anko knew that she probably should have been scared, but for some reason it had the exact opposite effect on her. Instead of pushing him away, Anko gripped his shirt tighter in order to bring him even closer to her.

In response, Orochimaru slipped his knee between her legs and slid her up his thigh causing her skirt to crumple up slightly. Anko moaned quietly, letting her eyes roll back due to the sensation. Subconsciously, she lifted one of her legs up in order to wrap it around his hip in another attempt to get even closer to him.

Anko gasped when she felt their hips meet, making her aware of just how much she desired his touch. Bucking her hips forward slightly, Anko felt a small wave a pleasure course throughout her body.

She heard him let out a low hiss as she ground her hips smoothly into his. He was growing hard against her, which only made the act even more enjoyable for her. Anko cracked open her eyes to see that he had closed his eyes in pleasure. This made her even more anxious, glad that he was enjoying this as much as she was.

Anko let out another moan and closed her eyes again when she felt his arms leave her waist to slide lower in order to pull her harder against him. She arched her back in response causing her breasts to be pushed more firmly against his chest.

Anko heard his breathing quicken and she could feel his hot breath on her lips. She so badly wanted to press her mouth against his and let their tongues wrestle and taste each other. Tilting her head slightly to the side, Anko let her lips linger just above his.

Then suddenly she was pushed back, slid off from him so that they now stood a few feet apart. Anko was about to question him when she saw Kabuto rounding the corner, his attention, once again focused on his papers instead of what was happening around him.

Suddenly stopping, Kabuto looked up to see Orochimaru and Anko standing randomly in the hall, not speaking or anything. Anko looked a little flushed, while Orochimaru was fixing his clothes oddly. Kabuto knew something had probably happened, but he didn't know what.

"What's going on?' Kabuto asked as he walked toward them.

"Not much." Orochimaru replied. "Anko-chan here just got a little lost so I planned to show her back to her room."

He placed his hand on top of her head causing Anko to curse under her breath at him. She quickly smacked Orochimaru's hand off her head and shot him a dirty look.

Looking back and forth between the sanin and his student, Kabuto remained confused at the way they were acting. For some reason they were acting more familiar with each other than before.

They all stood in silence, looking back and forth between each other before Orochimaru sighed, breaking the silence.

"We'll be heading off now, Kabuto." Orochimaru said as he began to depart from him. Anko, soon realizing he was leaving, quickly ran off after him.

Kabuto stood motionless in the hallway for a moment, still looking off in the direction they left in. Shaking his head, he turned back and continued down the hall.

"Things are definitely getting complicated."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Anko looked at Orochimaru out of the corner of her eye as they walked side by side down the hallway. Ever since their encounter with Kabuto, he hadn't said a word to her.

Anko frowned slightly, remembering just how close she was to kissing Orochimaru before Kabuto intruded. She wasn't sure if she should be completely pissed or thankful that Kabuto came in at that moment. Taking a deep breath, Anko tried to focus on the hallway ahead of her. Even so, her mind kept going back to that moment when his lips were just mere inches from hers.

Looking back toward him, Anko saw that his expression hadn't changed a bit. That bastard, pretending nothing ever happened. Typical.

Anko let out another deep sigh, causing Orochimaru to finally turn to look at her.

"Something wrong, Anko?" He asked in a silky tone. She paused, trying not to be completely immobilized just by the sound of his voice.

"O-Of course not." Anko replied shakily.

He narrowed his eyes at her causing her to try and surpass shudder. Anko's hands twisted into the fabric of her trench coat while trying to avoid his gaze. She knew nothing ever got by Orochimaru, but she was kind of hoping that he would choose to ignore her frantic state.

He stopped suddenly, causing Anko to look back at him and she soon realized they were now in front of her room. Not wanting to press the tension any further, Anko nodded her head at him and went to go into her room without saying another word.

However, he slammed his hand in front of her, blocking her exit to her room. Anko looked back and forth from him to her room while trying to calm her racing heart. There she was in that position again, trapped between him and the wall; no chance of escape.

Anko swallowed the lump in her throat, so badly wanting to pull him close and kiss him senseless.

'_Don't you dare,'_ Anko heard a voice tell her in her mind. _'Everything will be screwed up if you make things go farther than they should.'_

She winced quietly as she remembered the type of situation they were in. He was so close too, so hard to resist. Anko felt herself being intoxicated by all that was Orochimaru. She calmed herself down though when she saw him slide his arm down the wall, allowing her to pass by him. His hands were tightly closed into fists almost as if he was resisting something.

Orochimaru was still close to her but, he made it so that she could leave if she wanted to. His eyes stared into hers, they looked so sincere, so captivating. Never in her whole life had Anko felt like her entire body was going to explode just by the way someone looked at her. But then again this wasn't just any person, this was Orochimaru. The man that she loved and respected as a child, the one that cast her to the side when she was no longer of use, and the one that she found herself thinking non-stop about for who knows how long.

She almost grabbed onto his shirt as he slowly began to back away from her. Instead, she just remained frozen in that spot contemplating everything that had happened, or what could have happened. She felt him brush his hand across her cheek to push some hair out of her eyes. He once again had his usual smirk spread across his face but Anko didn't pay much attention to it. She was too infatuated with the way his hand skillfully moved against her skin.

She felt his hand leave her, though, when he turned away to make his way toward his room. Anko watched him depart from her, her heart swelling up in her chest due to his sudden absence. She waited a few minutes after hearing his door close to slowly open hers and enter her room. Covering her eyes with her hand Anko let out a painful groan. She needed a nice hot shower to clear her thoughts.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Orochimaru rubbed his temples as he sat at his desk with a variety of scroll spread out before him. He was hoping to distract himself by getting lost in his many scrolls but so far it had come to no success. That dango loving, overly hyper girl had triumphantly invaded his mind and it was driving him absolutely insane.

Him, Orochimaru, to have fallen victim to such a thing; what a catastrophe, a hindrance, a disgrace! No way could he become subjective to a thing such as lust or love. If something were to happen between them, Orochimaru had no idea how it could affect his plans and Orochimaru was never supposed to be clueless. He needed to be all-knowing, aware of ever concept, every detail.

Placing his head in his hand, Orochimaru frowned. He had already lost control of himself more than once, he wasn't even sure if he could stop himself anymore. In a state of frustration, Orochimaru smacked the scrolls off the desk onto the floor. He never liked admitting he was defenseless, not even to himself. Taking in a deep breath, he tried to calm himself down.

He had come so far, even resorting to measures such as activating her curse seal in order to warn her about staying away from that door. Whether or not she would get the message was still a mystery, but he didn't want his plans to be completely destroyed.

Now Orochimaru was not dumb, he knew things were getting out of hand which meant only one thing, there was definitely going to have to be a change in plans.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Anko dried her hair with a towel as she stepped out of the shower. Sadly, throughout the whole time she was trying to get her mind off her problems, her mind kept going back to Orochimaru and what it would be like if he touched her _everywhere_.

Taking a deep sigh, Anko slipped on a baggy T-Shirt and made her way out of the bathroom and toward the bed. She decided that all she needed was a good night's sleep to get her mind away from everything. Falling back onto the pillow, Anko felt her head hit something hard.

"What the fu-" Anko grumbled as she reached under her pillow and pulled out the book she had placed there just that morning.

"I don't need this shit right now." She exhaustedly sighed, throwing the book across the room and then burying her face into the pillow.

Anko tossed and turned a few times, trying to get comfortable, but for some reason she just couldn't fall asleep. She was exhausted, yet she just wasn't able to get her mind off of Orochimaru. Anko groaned, almost letting tears flow out due to her frustration.

Her stomach clenched at the thought of him and her desire was getting harder and harder to ignore as the time passed. Great, he wasn't even around and she was already throbbing for him.

Throwing the covers off Anko let her bare feet touched the cold floor.

"I can't stand it anymore." Anko desperately whimpered.

Making her way out of her room and down the hallway, she made sure to not make a single sound.

'Just this once,' she told herself. 'I'll give in, just this once…'

Anko soon found herself in front of Orochimaru's door. Taking a deep breath she pulled the handle down and slowly stepped inside.

Other than the two lanterns provided a dim light by the bed, the room was pitch black. She couldn't even tell if he was still in his room or not. His masked his chakra so well she could never really tell if he was around or not anymore.

Anko jumped slightly when she felt a hand grab onto her shoulder. She quickly turned to see Orochimaru, his features kind of showing in the dim light. Anko relaxed when she saw him, she didn't even care that she was standing before him in a T-shirt.

"What are you doing here, Anko?" He asked sweetly, his hand sliding from her shoulder and over her curse mark.

She rolled her head to the side to allow him to let his hand trail up neck to her jaw line.

"I-I couldn't sleep." She choked out, breathing heavily. He lightly gripped her chin, leading her face to look directly at him, bringing her closer in the process.

"What are you doing _here_, my dear?" He repeated more strongly, his other arm wrapping around her waist to bring her closer to him. She shivered as she clenched her thighs together.

"I can't take it anymore," she whined, gripping onto his tan shirt. "God, please, Orochimaru."

His eyes widened slightly and he smirked, hearing her beg like that was just so sexy. He leaned closer bringing her up toward him so that his mouth was right next to her ear.

"What is it, Anko?" He whispered to her. She gasped when he kissed her neck lightly right below her ear. Words failed her at that moment.

"Say it." He demanded huskily. Her breath was shaky and uneven as he continued to kiss her neck.

"Take me, Orochimaru." She managed to whimper out, pressing herself closer to him. His smirk widened against the crook of her neck as he felt her ach to get closer. He kissed up her neck to her jaw and paused over her lips for a second before bringing his mouth onto hers.

She let out a moan and immediately opened her mouth against his. He didn't hesitate for a second as his tongue slipped inside her mouth. She whimpered as he skillfully slid his tongue around her mouth in order to taste her further.

It was during this moment Anko snaked her arms around his neck, intertwining her fingers into his hair. One of Orochimaru's hands slipped down onto her thigh and guided her leg around his waist; she brought her other leg up to do the same so that he was now carrying her.

Anko soon found Orochimaru pressing her up against the wall so that his hands could roam her body again. He kept one hand under her for support while the other made its way up her body, pushing her T-shirt up as it went. She gasped when she felt him grab her breast, his thumb rubbing her nipple gently.

Anko arched her back to him, inviting him to touch her even more. His mouth had been moved from her lips in order to trail down to the top of her breasts. She was panting now, aching to know what he would do next. Making his way back to her neck, he placed his mouth where the curse seal was and sucked at her skin so that his teeth grazed her.

In her state of lust, Anko was subconsciously grinding her hips against him. She moaned when he pressed himself harder on her, biting down on her neck in the process. Anko took in a sharp breath from the sensation as her blood filled his mouth.

He ended up letting a quiet moan escape him as well. His hand left her breast to trail back down to her thigh. Sliding his hand under her, he pulled Anko away from the wall in order to make his way toward the bed.

As he walked, Anko became restless and squirmed in his grasp so that she could get her lips back on his. She hungrily kissed his mouth over and over as he leaned her back onto the bed. He hovered over her willing body; her legs still wrapped tightly around him, and pulled his lips away from hers so that he could kiss her neck again.

Orochimaru's hands unwound her legs from his waist and spread them apart on the bed. They trailed up her thigh toward her panties, playing with the elastic at the top. She whimpered when she felt his hands get closer; she was burning with desire and was at the mercy of his touch.

Her hips bucked forward when she felt him rub her clit. His thumb moved slowly at first, almost in a torturous sort of way, which caused her to whimper. As he rubbed her through her panties, he realized just how wet she was.

This caused him to smirk in amusement. Ignoring how much he was throbbing, he hooked his thumbs on the top of her underwear in order to slip them down her legs. He removed the drenched material from her and tossed it off to the side.

Leaning back on top of her Orochimaru captured her nipple in his mouth and sucked her breast, his other hand massaging the other one. She groaned and whimpered as his tongue explored her breasts. As he kissed his way back up to her jaw, Anko wrapped her arms around him and slid her hands down to untie his purple belt.

Finally getting the thing undone, she just dropped it to the floor, not caring where it ended up. Now that her arms weren't around him, Orochimaru took this opportunity to slide her T-shirt off so that she lay before him completely naked.

Finding it unfair that she was naked and Orochimaru was not, Anko went to try and remove his tan clothing, but he just grabbed her wrists and forced her to lie back down. He released her wrists for a second to pull some clothing off so that all he was left with was his black pants.

Anko was getting anxious upon seeing his bare chest and started squirming again, but Orochimaru captured both of her wrists in one hand and pressed himself down on her to keep her still.

"Now, now, my dear," he cooed at her. "You shouldn't be rushing so much."

She was breathing heavily as she watched his hand slide down to her hip to her inner thigh. He was lightly brushing his fingers lightly o her skin and up towards her core. Anko gasped when she felt him press her clit again and slip his index finger inside her to tease her. While he was rubbing her he easily pushed another finger into her.

"O-Orochimaru…" She whimpered urgently while trying to hold back her climax.

Orochimaru felt his pants become uncomfortably tight just by hearing her whimper out his name. She was shaking slightly under him and her eyes were rolled back in pleasure. Pulling his fingers out of her, he shed the rest of his clothing and positioned himself over her again.

Anko stared at him through her hazy brown eyes, panting heavily. She struggled to get her hands free, but he held them there firmly with one hand. The other was gliding across her stomach and raking down her sides causing her to shudder.

He kissed her jaw and made his way toward her mouth. Pushing himself into her, he covered her mouth with his in order to muffle her small shriek of surprise as she adjusted to him.

In a few moments, she was moaning and lifting her hips to meet his thrusts. She even wrapped her legs around his waist again to get him to push further inside her. He continued to kiss her, letting his teeth tear a bit of her slightly swollen lips so that he could run his tongue over the blood.

Orochimaru had let her hands go, so she wrapped them around his neck and brought him in for another kiss, giving him a bite of her own. He pulled back, licking his lips of the blood before once again claiming her mouth as his.

"Faster." Anko murmured against his mouth.

Orochimaru found himself complying with her request and picked up the speed of his thrusts.

She was moaning and breathing sharply as she struggled to hold back the pleasure she was feeling.

"Don't stop!" She begged him, even though he hadn't planned to. "Orochimaru!"

Anko suddenly felt herself release, her pleasure heightening to a whole new level. After feeling her release, Orochimaru pushed into her one last time before allowing his own release.

She was panting under him, her chest rising and falling with every breath she took. Rolling off her, he lay down next to her on his side and pulled her tightly to him. She was exhausted and instantly fell asleep, but he stayed awake for a while longer to watch her sleep.

He brushed her bangs to the side and lightly kissed her on the mouth. In response, she subconsciously snuggled up to him, probably to make sure he didn't go anywhere.

Orochimaru held her close as she slept. He didn't even care about his original plan anymore; he had other ideas for Anko.

Closing his eyes, Orochimaru gave into sleep with Anko curled up in his arms.

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_Whoa! Part ten already? Wow, we're more than halfway through! _

_Anyway, there you go; the first lemon of the series, amazing right? Probably not. Well, I hope you all enjoyed that scene anyway; I tried to make it descriptive but not __too __much so that it would be really uncomfortable. XD_

_Well, I'm sorry this took so long. (again) But I hope the excessive length made up for it. I also hope to have another chapter out soon before I go back to school so try to look out for that. Also, I'll be posting my progress on my page from now on so if you're wondering about a chapter or anything just visit myprofile and I'll have my latest updates there. ^^_

_Thank you all for staying with me so far and offering me encouraging reviews! You guys are the best!!_

_See you in Chapter 11!_


	11. Uncover

_I do not own any of these characters._

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 11- Uncover

'So warm….' Anko thought as she snuggled deeper into the bed. The scent was somewhat foreign to her, yet also pleasantly familiar. Shifting a bit more, she felt something tighten slightly around her waist. It had a slightly lower body temperature than her, but it was still warm. Anko forced herself to wake up slowly to uncover this mystery. She cracked open her eyes slightly to find herself in the arms of the snake sannin himself.

She took in a sharp breath as the memories of the previous night spilled into her mind. Anko lay frozen but not in fear, more in shock. She was shocked that she could have actually had a moment like that with Orochimaru, shocked that she actually enjoyed it, and shocked that he was still here.

She expected him to just leave and act like nothing happened, but here he was asleep and looking peaceful, sweet, and cute….. Cute!?! Anko's eyes widened. Did she just think the most wanted and feared ninja was cute? She groaned slightly in annoyance as she closed her eyes. She wasn't supposed to actually get more attached to him after sex. It was supposed to be a onetime thing and then nothing else. That would have been it.

But here she was still in the arms of her sensei and actually going as far as thinking of him as cute. She sighed and felt the arm around her tighten. Anko looked back at Orochimaru to see a small smirk play across his face.

That bastard had been awake all along! Anko growled causing Orochimaru's smirk to widen even farther. She shifted from him to sit up but his grip on her pulled her closer.

Feeling her movement, his golden eyes shot open to stare into her brown ones. He was taunting her again, the jackass…. Anko was growing tired of this and she was annoyed that he was able to be happy so early in the morning.

"Orochimaru, if you don't let go of me this moment, I promise that I will cause you the most painful experience of your life." She growled at him darkly.

He immediately let go, knowing what she meant, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to bother her.

"But Anko-chan," he said soothingly, "I thought you would like to spend more time with me this morning." His hand glided up and down her thigh as he talked, causing her to shudder.

But instead of her jumping him as he had hoped, she decided to throw her pillow in his face.

"Don't be so vulgar this early in the morning." She growled angrily as she snatched the pillow back and placed it behind her.

"I forgot that you weren't a morning person." He muttered, clearly not happy that she was bold enough to hit him with a pillow.

She didn't hear him though as she spotted something on the floor and bent over to pick it up. Looking at it quickly she threw it over her shoulder so that it smacked Orochimaru in the face.

He was raging now that she, not once but twice, smacked him in the face without showing any remorse. His teeth were grinding together as she climbed over him to get another article off the floor.

"Put that on," she said as she continued to search the floor. It was his shirt from yesterday and soon she had his boxer shorts and pants in front of him as well.

However, as soon as she had her back turned to him, he grabbed Anko from behind and pinned her to the bed.

"What makes you think I'll take orders from you?" He hissed darkly at her, his face mere inches from her own.

"I didn't think that at all," she replied smugly as she relaxed under him. "Even though you did do what I asked last night."

Orochimaru leaned down on her so that his mouth was next to her ear.

"My dear, I didn't do anything that I didn't want to do." He whispered seductively, causing her to smirk.

She turned her head to capture his lips in a gentle kiss. His hands left her wrist to travel down her waist as his tongue slid into her mouth. Her hands slid over his chest when-

"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto called on the other side of the door.

Anko bit down on Orochimaru's tongue accidentally causing him to wince and quickly pull it out of her mouth.

"Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto repeated.

"What is it, Kabuto?" Orochimaru responded, trying not to make it seem like he was in pain from nearly having his tongue bitten off. Anko quickly gathered her shirt from the other side of the room as Orochimaru dressed himself.

"May I enter?" Kabuto asked, causing Anko to panic.

"What should I do?" She whispered urgently.

"What do you mean?" He whispered back while holding his jaw to try and suppress the pain of his tongue. "Why should you care if he finds you in here?"

"Because," Anko quietly hissed, "It would be awkward for all of us, especially me."

"Sir?" Kabuto asked confused by why Orochimaru wasn't answering.

Anko turned to Orochimaru in a panicked state hopefully awaiting some sort of guidance from him. However, he provided her nothing but a careless shrug. Anko's eyes narrowed at the snake before letting out a low growl and turning to quickly hide in his closet.

Orochimaru just chuckled at his overly hyper student as he brought his attention back to the medical ninja just on the other side of his door.

"Come in, Kabuto." Orochimaru sighed just as Anko firmly closed the door to his closet.

Upon getting permission, Kabuto opened the snake lord's door and proceeded inside. He looked around cautiously as if Orochimaru's room was some unknown territory to him, as if something could attack him at any moment.

"What is it that you wanted to speak with me about, Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked suddenly, causing Kabuto to focus on the sannin lord instead of the surroundings.

"Umm, yes," Kabuto began. "It has come to my attention that Anko isn't in her room or anywhere else in the base, I-"

"It's fine," Orochimaru cut in.

"But-" Kabuto tried to continue.

"I know where she is. It's fine," Orochimaru said sternly ending the conversation.

Anko peered through the crack in the door at what was happened. She had already pulled her shirt on when she had realized something. She had accidentally left her panties on the floor of Orochimaru's room in her panicked state.

'Shit, shit, shit.' She cursed in her head. What if Kabuto saw them? What if he knew they were hers? Would he just think Orochimaru was a pervert? …yeah right. Or would he discover that she just did her former sensei?

Anko's head was swirling just by thinking what might go around the base if Kabuto knew what she had done the night before. And knowing Orochimaru, he would just sit and do nothing while she took the fall.

Her attention was brought back to her sensei and his doctor when Kabuto started speaking again.

"Of course, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto replied while pushing his glasses up.

Anko peered through the crack in the door, to see both of them staring intensely at each other. For a minute, she felt like a battle would break out between the two at any given moment, yet they remained where they were.

It wasn't until Kabuto turned away from Orochimaru, that Anko realized she had been holding her breath. She slowly let the air out of her lungs, her muscles relaxing slightly. However, that moment was short lived for she saw Kabuto stop suddenly.

Shit, he spotted something…hopefully it wasn't what Anko thought it was…

Orochimaru looked at Kabuto as he noticed him staring at something on his floor. Following his line of sight, Orochimaru had to suppress a laugh. His little Anko had left her panties lying in the middle of his floor.

"Something wrong, Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked, taking Kabuto's gaze from the floor and back towards the sannin. Kabuto quickly glanced back; however, nothing was there. He could have sworn he saw a pair of panties on the floor but…

"No, nothing sir." He replied, quickly shaking his head and heading towards the door. As he swiftly moved out, Orochimaru heard Kabuto mumble under his breath something about how he shouldn't fall asleep next to the medical supplies anymore.

Orochimaru chuckled upon seeing the medical ninja's confusion. And just a second after his bedroom door closed, Anko came bursting out of his closet, face red and breathing heavily.

She dashed over to where Orochimaru was and scanned the floor, hastily looking for her missing article of clothing.

"Something wrong, my dear?" Orochimaru questioned as a smirk spread across his lips.

"Of course there is! I left my…" Anko didn't finish though, because when she looked up she saw the desired item in the sanin's hand, dangling from two of his fingers. She felt her cheeks heat up as she quickly snatched her panties from him.

"How did you..? But…." Anko stuttered out. Then the answer to her question came when she saw a small, green snake slither off Orochimaru's leg. It all made sense to her then. When Kabuto looked up, the snake must have grabbed her underwear so that they wouldn't be in plain sight any more.

"You sneaky bastard," Anko said as a smile came across her face.

"When you're an S class criminal, you have to be." He replied smoothly as he lay back down on his bed, closing his eyes. She laughed slightly moving over to him. She paused for a moment before leaning over so that her face was mere inches from his.

"Just so you know," Anko said as a smirk came across her face, "last night didn't change my opinion about you. I still think you're a cold, sadistic bastard of a snake."

Orochimaru just let out a low chuckle and opened his eyes to look into hers.

"Good, because it would be terrible if you thought anything else of me, now wouldn't it?" He responded as a smirk formed across his lips.

Anko just stood up with a smile on her face as she made her way to the door. He might have been a cold, sadistic bastard, but he sure gave her one hell of a night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Where the hell have you been!?!" Kabuto screamed as Anko entered the kitchen. After she had gone back to her room, changed and had taken a shower, she was feeling pretty hungry. She decided to have a nice, peaceful breakfast. But that dream was shot since Kabuto was being a nosy bastard.

"Well?" He pressed as she searched for some dango in this God-forsaken kitchen. Anko felt a vein in her forehead throb as he continued to bother her on the issue. Not to mention she couldn't find her favorite treat anywhere.

"It's not any of your God-damned business!" She screamed back at him after her last thread of patience for the boy snapped. "And where in hell is all my dango!?!"

"It is my business since you are still technically a prisoner here, even if Orochimaru-sama has given you more freedom than a prisoner should get. And your dango is gone. You ate it all last time I checked." Kabuto hissed back at her in annoyance. The girl was a pain in the ass.

"Gone?" Anko winced, tears swelling up in her eyes. Kabuto was surprised by this. The girl was actually about to cry over a trivial thing such as dango. How could she have possibly been Orochimaru's student?

It was at this moment Orochimaru entered the kitchen. He always seemed to have such great timing. He paused in the doorway, looking at the scene before him. Kabuto seemed frozen in shock, and Anko stood before the medical ninja, her hands wiping at her eyes…was she crying?

"Kabuto," Orochimaru sighed. "What did you do?"

"Me? Sir, you can't be serious." Kabuto replied in an attempt to defend himself. "I simply told her the truth."

"Which was?" Orochimaru pressed on.

"Sensei!!!!!" Anko cried out to him making Kabuto cringe and Orochimaru stiffen. "Kabuto said all my dango was gone!!!!"

Both men were frozen by the bizarre actions Anko took. Not only did she freely and knowingly call Orochimaru Sensei, but here she was also crying before him over…dango…

But that wasn't as bizarre as what had yet to come. Anko had turned toward Orochimaru and suddenly trapped him in a hug, her face buried in his chest. Now Kabuto had some strange mornings, but this…this had to be the strangest.

"Kabuto…" Orochimaru hissed as Anko tightened her arms around him. "Go out and get Anko some dango…Now!"

Kabuto looked over at the two, Orochimaru had his back to him and Anko, her head was now resting on Orochimaru's shoulder and she was…that bitch was smirking at him! Kabuto felt his blood boil. She caused all this mayhem just for some stupid treat. He growled angrily at the girl before turning swiftly on his heel and storming out the door to get some damn dango for the most annoying woman on the face of the earth.

Anko had felt Orochimaru take in a sharp breath upon her sudden action to hug him. This caused her to smile inside. It appeared that Orochimaru did not like even the slightest amount of PDA. She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing.

"You know, you shouldn't cause Kabuto so much trouble." Orochimaru hissed at her before pushing her away from him swiftly.

"But I really wanted some dango." She sniffled, obviously faking. He just rolled his eyes at her and poured some tea before sitting down at the table with a scroll he pulled from his pant pocket.

Just as Anko sat down across from him, Sasuke walked through the door with the gloomy look he always had. What an emo kid….

Anko saw him look at her out of the corner of his eye, yet refused to acknowledge her presence. He put a piece of bread into the toaster and propped himself against the counter to wait for his breakfast to finish cooking. Anko let out a small cough, causing Orochimaru to look up, but not the Uchiha brat.

"Well, good morning to you too!" Anko sarcastically said, her voice rising with each word.

He just looked over at her and let out a "humph" sort of noise. Anko's eyes narrowed at him and she heard Orochimaru let out a low chuckle at her attempts to make conversation with the Uchiha.

Now it was on. There was only one way to get the Uchiha's attention and get even with the sannin. Sasuke's bread had just popped up and he began to eat it while Orochimaru drank his tea.

"I hugged Orochimaru this morning!" She yelled loudly, causing Orochimaru to spit out his tea and Sasuke to choke on his bread.

"Anko…" Orochimaru growled quietly so Sasuke couldn't hear. "Keep that up and I'll spill you're little secret from last night."

Anko knew that was a lie since he didn't even like people knowing that she hugged him, but decided not to test him.

"And what, may I ask, caused you to do such a thing?" She finally heard the Uchiha say, obviously referring to the hug. Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly. He rarely ever heard Sasuke make conversation with anyone but him and Kabuto, and that was always about training.

"What?" Anko replied with a smile on her face. "You don't think Orochimaru is huggable?" With that she got up from her seat in order to try and give Orochimaru another hug, but he just rose from his seat and stepped back.

"Why don't you go back to your room, Anko?" Orochimaru hissed at her. "I'll tell Kabuto to bring you your dango there when he returns. Come on, Sasuke, we have more training to do." Sasuke then left the room, with Orochimaru only a few feet behind him.

But before he left he glanced over his shoulder to look back at Anko. Noticing this, she blew him a kiss teasingly. He turned back around shaking his head and she could have sworn she saw a small smile appear on his lips.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Where the hell are you, Kabuto!?!" Anko screamed out as she fell back on her bed. He had been gone for a half hour. Either the kid was lost or he was purposely taking his time so she would have to suffer and wait for her delicious dango breakfast. …It was probably the latter. Anko groaned and turned her head to the side only to see the book lying a few feet from her.

Anko got up quickly and grabbed the book from the floor. Flipping it over, she let out a sigh.

"Right," she told herself. "This is why I'm here. I have to find out his plans."

She ran her fingertips over the title, "Forbidden Jutsus," making her blood run cold for a minute. The last forbidden jutsu she used almost killed her and the last one used on her almost killed her. In other words, forbidden jutsus and Anko didn't go well together.

She sighed as she flipped through the pages, not even focusing on the content. However, as she flipped through, she landed on a particularly interesting page. She understood parts of it, but not the entirety. All she could figure out from it was that it required many bodies and much more chakra. At the bottom, in small print, it said that the jutsu's attempts had been unsuccessful.

Anko looked over the page again before realizing why it was almost impossible. The amount of chakra required could cause the donor to die or be pretty damn close to dying, not to mention the bodies needed to be in a certain condition to access the chakra given. In other words, the jutsu was so precise and needed so much to be activated.

50 bodies were needed for this jutsu as well. Anko froze for a second. 50 bodies… how many were there when she first arrived. That group, there were about 50 of them…yet since she arrived she had yet to see one. Anko felt her heart stop…what ever happened to them…?

"Anko?" Kabuto called from the other side of the door, causing her to jump. "I have your dango."

"Uh, yes come in." She replied quickly shoving the book under her bed and trying not to sound scared out of her mind.

He came in and placed the plate of dango on her table before turning around to head back out. For once, he had no snarky comments for her and Anko was glad for that. But she had no time to rejoice, she had other things on her mind.

Anko took one bite of her dango and looked back over at the book. There was only one way to see if her hypothesis was right. And to do that she would have to see what was behind that metal door.

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_I'm so so so so sorry for my absence. Hopefully you all don't hate me…Well for those who still are with me, thank you so much for your patience, I owe you so much for that alone._

_But anyway, not much to say about this chapter. Hopefully you all enjoyed it and it made up for the long wait. If not, then I'm sure the next chapter will be more than satisfying…well, I think it will be anyway…_

_But please review…I know it's shameless of me to ask, but I love to know who is still actually sticking with me._

_Thank you all so much_

_See you in chapter 12!!_


	12. Behind the Metal Door

My Golden Heart

Chapter 12- Behind the Metal Door

* * *

"Anko-chan?" Orochimaru said as he opened the door to his former student's room. From the little light that illuminated the area, Orochimaru could see the small silhouette of the girl bundled up underneath her covers. However, she wasn't sleeping. He could tell by the way her body tensed when he moved into her room.

"Anko-chan," he repeated soothingly as he sat down on her bed. "You've been hiding in your room all day, my dear. What in the world is wrong with you?"

Anko would have laughed in his attempt to try and comfort her but at the moment she just wasn't up to saying anything. She had too much on her mind. In fact, she almost started crying when she felt him place a hand on her back. For some reason she just want to jump into his arms right there.

Orochimaru pulled his hand back when he felt her shake under his touch. Something was definitely wrong with the girl but he had no idea what. How could she possibly go from being so happy and hyper this morning and then just shut down completely for the rest of the day? It just wasn't something that he would expect someone like Anko to do.

"Anko?" He said again this time more sternly. She turned her head and looked at him with the saddest eyes he had ever seen her wear. He was about to say something when her hand reached out and grabbed onto his pant leg. She was silent for a moment till she spoke in a barely audible voice.

"I'm sorry, Sensei."

"Anko, wha-"

"I'm kind of tired so I think I'll go to sleep now." Anko interrupted quickly. And before he got another word in she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Her grip was tight, as if she was holding onto him for dear life. As she pulled away Orochimaru could have swore he saw a single tear slide down her face. Even so, he decided he should leave her to her thoughts.

"Good night." Anko said her voice cracking slightly as the door shut behind him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"This is it," Anko thought. "Today I'm am completing my mission, I'm doing what I was assigned to do."

Anko never really fell asleep after Orochimaru left. She just sat in the dark staring at the little golden necklace Kurenai gave her, listening to it tick into the night. Then at eleven o' clock she decided it was time. No noise was heard, so she assumed that everyone was either asleep or at least in their rooms. It would be perfect to head out now.

She cracked open her door a bit to peer outside into the hall. Both Kabuto's and Orochimaru's lights were on, but she could hear no movement, so they must've fallen asleep while they were hard at work. Anko smiled slightly as she imagined Orochimaru hunched over at his desk while using the piles of scrolls there for pillows. What a sight that would be.

Anko felt her chest tighten. After this she couldn't see Orochimaru anymore, he'd be an enemy again. And she was just starting to get used to Kabuto. She never thought that she might actually miss the kid. And Sasuke…Well she could live without him. But after this, what would happen? She would go home, right? She would go back to Konoha, her home. If it is her home, why does she long to stay here? Why? Why was this feeling happening to her?

Anko sat down in the hallway, her face buried in her hands. She had to do this. She had to leave. She had already gotten too attached to this place… to him. Anko stood up on shaky legs and made her way out the door. She, thankfully, remembered the way she took the first time she arrived here. To think how quickly she adapted to these walls. At first they just felt like a barrier but now…Anko shook her head, she had to stay focused. This was for Konoha.

The familiar pain shot through her neck and she knew she was getting close to her destination. 'No backing out this time.' She told herself firmly. As she turned the corner feelings of curiosity and complete fear spread throughout her body. Even so, she took slow, heavy steps down the dark hallway and towards the door.

'Come on, just a little further.' Anko cried out in her mind. When the cold metal touched her hand, she felt a shiver run up her spine. Pulling and tugging at the door, she struggled to open it just as she did when she first tried to run from Orochimaru. But this time he wasn't around to slam it back and wrap himself around her. With one final tug, she was able to just barely slide through the door. Once her body was inside, it slammed effortlessly behind her with a loud click.

The first thing Anko noticed was the disgusting smell in the room. It was pitch black in the area so she felt around for a switch of some sort. As she made her way around, her knee collided with a table causing her to wince out in pain. Her hands landed onto the table top. However, it didn't feel like wood, it felt cold, wet, and…squishy? Anko swallowed deeply and felt herself get sick. Leaning back against the cold wall, her back hit the light switch causing an intense light to blind her sight for a moment.

Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she felt her breath hitch and her stomach clench. There were bodies…everywhere…bloodied and disfigured some with their organs cut out and spread all of the tables. It was clear that there were no survivors. Anko's heart beat faster and faster. She was a ninja; she should be used to this type of gruesome scene. But it was this scene that reminded her of that time at sea country, her first time at sea country.

Anko's eyes went around the room frantically, trying to search for one spot that wasn't terrifying. However, it only caused her to panic more. She was starting to hyperventilate and she had to bite down on her wrist to muffle her screams and cries.

Anko was walking backward when she felt herself walk into something. She turned her head to see an eyeless corpse right at her head causing her to flip herself around and step quickly away from the body. She was crying heavily now and continued to walk back when she walked into something else that wrapped its arms around her causing her to scream loudly.

"AGHHH!!! NO MORE!! PLEASE NO MORE!!!" She sobbed out, clenching her eyes shut and clawing at the body. "NO! PLEASE!!! LET ME OUT!!!"

Her nails dug into the arm causing blood to slip out and wipe onto her hands.

"ANKO! ANKO CALM DOWN!" A voice yelled over her screams. "ANKO! IT'S ALRIGHT! CALM DOWN, YOU'RE FINE!!!"

However, she just continued thrashing about in her attempt to get loose. "LET ME GO!!!" She cried out painfully, tears streaming out through her clenched eyes. One arm wrapped more tightly around her waist while the other went up to cover her mouth.

"KABUTO!!" She heard the voice yelled anxiously. And then she felt herself go limp and everything faded away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kabuto stood in shock as he looked across the room to see Orochimaru holding the limp Anko in his arms. They had both run in from the back, when they heard screaming. Never, had he seen Orochimaru panic like he just did. Never, in his whole life would he have thought that this panic could have been caused by feelings for someone else. 'Anko,' Kabuto thought. 'You truly are something special.'

Orochimaru picked Anko up into his arms and wiped away the remaining tears from her face. He had cancelled Kabuto's sleeping jutsu by coating himself with his chakra. He knew that Anko would have never calmed down unless they put her to sleep.

"What do we do now?" Kabuto asked breathlessly. "We tried to warn her not to go in here and she still did despite the fact you activated her curse seal to try and drive her away."

Orochimaru just kept starting into Anko's face as she slept. He didn't even acknowledge that he heard Kabuto's comments.

"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto continued. "She knows now. What will we do? It'd be pointless to put her into the experiment. It was a failure, anyway. No wonder the book said it was unsuccessful."

As Kabuto spoke, Anko twisted he hand into the fabric of Orochimaru's clothes and acted as if she was not able to let him go. There were a few moments of silence between the two before Orochimaru spoke up.

"I'm going to let her choose." He said quietly.

"Excuse me, sir?" Kabuto said confusingly.

"Anko," Orochimaru said clearing things up. "I'm going to let her chose whether she wants to stay here or go."

"Just like that?" Kabuto questioned.

"…Just like that…"

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_WOAH!! What happened to Orochimaru!?! Has he gone soft on us…? Well we'll just have to see now won't we? _

_Anyway, my apologizes again for being a lazy bum and not updating…T^T But better late than never, right? *is thrown off a cliff*_

_Well, ahem, this is actually the second scene that I've wanted to write most since the beginning. (The first one being later on.) :3 So I hoped you liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Though my heart really went out to Anko when she was in the room, I know I would have passed out the minute I stepped foot in there. ^^;_

_Anyway, please review even though I know I don't deserve it….._

_See you in chapter 13!!!_


	13. Decisions

_Concerning I'm making no profit off this story, I guess I still don't own these characters. Oh well…_

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 13- Decisions

It was bright. That's the first thing her mind registered through the pounding pain in her head. It was too bright. Anko became used to the darkness in Orochimaru's hideout, but for some reason all her eyes could pick up at the moment was white.

Despite the pain, Anko managed to open her eyes to see a blond woman before her.

"T-Tsunade?" Anko's voice cracked out in disbelief.

The woman quickly looked at Anko before throwing her arms around the girl into a big hug.

"Oh Anko, you're awake!" Tsunade exclaimed. "I was afraid you weren't going to wake up after finding you passed out in the forest!"

"F-Forest?" Anko squeaked. "B-but what about Orochimaru and Kabuto and…and…"

"Oh dear, you must've hit your head really hard." Tsunade replied sadly.

Anko could feel tears forming in her eyes. It was all a dream? She never went to the sound? Never walked around with Kabuto? Never shared those moments with Orochimaru?

"Anko? Are you alright?" Tsunade asked after noticing a tear slide down the girl's face.

"N-No…It can't be…" Anko choked out. Tsunade went to put a hand on the girl's shoulder, but before she could, Anko buried her face into the blanket to muffle her cries.

"Anko! Anko, please tell me what's wrong!" Tsunade called out worryingly. Anko lifted her head up quickly to take in a sharp breath.

"I want to go back!" She sobbed out.

"Back?" Tsunade questioned. "Back where?"

"I have to go back! I have to go to Orochimaru!" Anko cried out as she kicked off her sheets to jump out of the bed.

"Now hold on, Anko, lie down." Tsunade protested as she pushed Anko back against the pillow.

"No! I have to find Orochimaru! I need him!" Anko screamed as she tried to fight away from Tsunade's grasp.

"Why in the world would you want to go to him, Anko? After everything he has done to you?" Tsunade replied through Anko's struggles. She stopped fighting though after the last word left Tsunade's mouth. _Everything…Everything he's done to me…_

Flashes of her in the dark room, the curse seal burning her up seeped into her mind. She remembered the pain clearly, the pain from the seal, the pain from his bite, the pain of him leaving…

More tears rolled down her face as Tsunade loosened her grip on her even more. Anko just continued staring blankly up at the ceiling feeling her tears slowly drip off her cheeks and onto her bed.

"I don't care about any of that," Anko replied after a long moment of silence. "I can't let him get away from me again. I-I lov-"

* * *

Anko's eyes shot open only to find the familiar darkness of Orochimaru's hideout around her. She quickly sat up which caused her head to pound in response to her quick movement.

"You should really lie down." A voice said from beside her. Anko turned her head in order to see the familiar form of Orochimaru just barely illuminated from the lamp beside him.

"Orochi-" Anko began, but he pushed her back against her pillow.

"Anko, listen to me," He began as he stared into her wide, brown eyes. "I want you pay really close attention, so don't go and start day dreaming while I'm talking."

Anko felt a small smile form on her lips as she remembered those days that seemed so far away.

"Anko," Orochimaru continued causing her to look back at him to see two headbands, one in each hand. In his right, there was her Leaf village band and in his left was a Sound one.

"I'm going to let you choose now. You can either go back to Konoha," He motioned his right hand toward her as he said this. "Or you can stay here."

Anko felt her eyes water but she refused to cry.

"If you stay here, you won't be a prisoner anymore. You'll be free as long as you don't do anything that might incriminate you," Orochimaru said as he looked at her confused expression. "Now if you choose to go back, I'll let you walk right out of here and you can go right back to Konoha, no strings attached. But if we meet again, I won't let you off easy like I'm doing now, you'll be an enemy, understand?"

Anko nodded as she looked from one hand to the other. Konoha or Otogakure? How would she pick? All of her friends were in Konoha. But did she really still go back and consider it home? But Orochimaru did all those experiments. All the bodies, could she live with that?

Reaching out her hand slowly, she grasped her Konoha head band. She picked it up and looked at it as it shined from the small light of the lamp. Anko glanced back up at Orochimaru to show that she had made her choice.

Anko quickly tossed the headband over her shoulder and lunged onto Orochimaru, trapping him in a hug. She could hear her headband clanking as it hit the floor, but she just grasped onto him tighter as her tears soaked his shirt.

Orochimaru seemed surprised for a moment but then slowly wrapped his arms around her as his hand rubbed her back. "Are you sure?" He whispered in her ear and she nodded in response. Once his lips pressed into hers, she knew she had made the right decision.

* * *

Kabuto smirked as he watched Orochimaru and Anko walk into the kitchen. Orochimaru had his arm around her waist and Kabuto could see a sound ninja headband replaced the leaf one that used to be on Anko's forehead.

"Anko." Kabuto nodded curtly at her as she sat down at the table. Orochimaru had left her side in order to go over to the stove to make himself some breakfast.

"Kabuto." She replied with some venom in her voice.

"Now, now you two, let's not start a war." Orochimaru sighed as he played with his fork while waiting for his egg to finish cooking.

"Sorry, sir, I'll do my best to get along with her no matter what." Kabuto replied as he smirked at Anko's glare.

"Suck up." Anko growled under her breath toward the medical ninja.

"You would know." Kabuto hissed back. Anko went to lunge at Kabuto when suddenly both were pulled back sharply. Orochimaru had unexpectedly appeared behind them and were know holding both Anko and Kabuto by the collars of their shirts.

"Alright, let me make this perfectly clear," Orochimaru said dangerously. "Anko, you had better learn to treat Kabuto with respect because if anything were to happen to you, it wouldn't be to your benefit to having our best medic holding a grudge against you."

Kabuto snickered at this causing Orochimaru to shoot him a glare. "And you," Orochimaru continued. "Anko is going to be here for awhile, so just get used to it!"

After that statement, he dropped them both to the ground and went back to the stove to wait for his breakfast.

Both ninjas straightened out their collars with shaken hands.

"Truce?" Kabuto said quietly after a moment.

"Truce," Anko replied. "But that doesn't mean I'll stop teasing you."

"Fair enough," Kabuto said with a shrug. "Though I suggest you do it after breakfast. Orochimaru was never a morning person."

"Wow I couldn't tell," Anko replied as she rolled her eyes. Thankfully, Orochimaru was too busy watching the stove to hear what they said.

After a moment, Orochimaru sat down with them at the table acting as if he didn't just scold them. Anko sighed before standing up to walk over to the cupboards to search for something to eat.

"Do we have any more dango?" She asked after a moment of searching.

Kabuto nearly spat out his juice, thankfully he didn't or else Orochimaru would have surely killed him for spitting juice onto his breakfast.

"What happened to all that dango I got you yesterday!?! It should have lasted you at least three days!" Kabuto exclaimed.

"Three days? That small amount? You have to be kidding me." Anko sighed. The boy clearly didn't know her appetite for dango.

Anko paused for a moment before looking back towards the two ninjas before her. "Wait…does this mean…there's no more dango?" The tears were forming once more.

"Oh no! Not this again!" Kabuto nearly cried out, but he stopped when he noticed Orochimaru's glare towards him.

"I'll get my coat." Kabuto replied quickly, not wanting to try the snake sannin's patience any more.

Kabuto was nearly out the door when he felt Orochimaru's chakra rise.

"Just a moment," Orochimaru said loudly causing both ninjas to freeze where they stood. He paused for a moment before finally speaking again, "I think it's time we switched bases."

Kabuto and Anko looked at each other in confusion, wondering what could have possibly caused this random outburst.

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_Ah! Another chapter!!! A miracle, right? Well I have Trissacar to thank for that, her story inspired me and got my Orochimaru/Anko fangirl going again. XD I originally started the first half of this story like weeks ago, then got stuck. Yeah, even crazy fangirl's like me take breaks from their OTPs every once in awhile, but they always come back stronger than ever. X3_

_So yay! Anko is an official Sound ninja! *insert cheer here* So what caused Orochimaru's random outburst? Did he sense something wrong or was he just bored and decided to amuse himself by making everyone go through the trouble of moving? Whatever it is, the answer is in the next chapter._

_Also, I hope none of you will kill me for that little trick in the beginning. I'd never actually write a story that turns out just to be all a dream, that's too cruel. :P So please review for a poor writer. ^^;_

_See you all in chapter 14!!!!_


	14. Settling in

_I do not, I repeat DO NOT, own these characters._

* * *

My Golden Heart

Chapter 14-Settling in

"We're walking!?!" Anko screamed as she, Orochimaru, Kabuto, and the recently remembered Sasuke stood outside what used to be their hideout.

"How did you think we would get there, Anko?" Kabuto asked, annoyed by how loud she was being.

"Well…" Anko hesitantly began. "I thought that you all had some secret portal hidden in a tree that would take us into the sky until we came across a tube that would slide us down into the ground where we would come across a door which would then contain a hallway that was our new secret hideout."

There was a long moment of silence between all of them as Anko just continued smiling and looking so proud of herself.

"Did you drink any of vials that where in my medical bag by any chance?" Kabuto asked as the three men stared at her.

"No, you jackass, I'm not stupid!" Anko replied bitterly as she stomped her foot into the ground to further express her anger. What a jerk, did he really think that she would go through and drink whatever he had in that ridiculous bag of his?

"Oh dear," Orochimaru sighed amusingly as he stepped closer to Anko. "The heat must've gotten to her since she's already forgotten what I told her **just. This. Morning**."

Orochimaru emphasized these last words while wrapping his arms around the girl tighter and tighter with each pause.

"No, sir…Of course not." Anko breathed out with the little remaining oxygen she had left. With that, Orochimaru dropped the girl onto the ground and stepped over her to make his way back to Kabuto and Sasuke.

"But seriously," Anko said as she stood up while brushing dirt off herself. "Can't we at least ride Manda for part of the way?"

"Anko," Kabuto sighed out of sheer annoyance. "We are criminals constantly on the run from other villages. When we travel, we don't want to have attention drawn to us. SO WHY WOULD WE GO AND RIDE A GIANT, PURPLE SNAKE TO OUR NEXT HIDEOUT!?!"

"…What's your point?"

Orochimaru had to grab onto Kabuto as he jumped toward the girl in a fit of fury.

"Don't worry, Anko," Orochimaru chuckled as he held back the medical ninja with one hand by his shirt collar. "Kabuto just isn't very fond of Manda because of our last encounter with him."

"Awww! But Manda is so sweet!" Anko replied happily.

"Yeah, Manda is as sweet as Sasuke is hyper." Kabuto chuckled while Sasuke silently fumed behind him from all of their antics as well as being brought into them.

"Let's go before we're all captured already." The Uchiha impatiently said as he stormed off ahead.

The three remaining just looked at each other before going on ahead to catch up with the youngest of their group. However, Anko paused for a moment to just remember something important.

"Wait, Sensei! I still didn't get my dango!!"

* * *

Anko walked side by side with Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Sasuke. They had left transporting the rest of the supplies to the other ninjas back at the hideout so that they could go on ahead. The only thing that was being carried was Anko's backpack which was currently in the possession of Orochimaru since she didn't want to carry it; another backpack that had all their essentials, which was being carried by Kabuto; and Kabuto's medical kit which was, of course, being carried by Kabuto. Notice how a dango was failed mentioned. Instead of the delicious treat Anko now had a small lump forming on her head, courtesy of Kabuto. Thankfully it was well hidden under a cloak that Kabuto made each of them wear.

"Tell me again why we have to wear these stupid cloaks?" Anko asked as she stared at the long material.

"Because," Kabuto hissed. "We would surely be attacked if people saw us without them."

Anko just rolled her eyes at the statement, like they didn't look suspicious in these cloaks either. They all continued on in silence. Anko looked around a bit, there was too much silence here, not a bird or cricket to be heard…how odd. While in thought Anko continued on ahead until she felt herself being sharply pulled back by her cloak. Just when she was about to turn around to see what happened, Orochimaru swiftly came up behind and tugged the tip of her hood down in front of her face as he tackled her to the ground

"Orochimaru wh-" She began but was immediately silenced when she noticed a kunai in the spot where she used to stand.

"Keep your face hidden." Orochimaru hissed in her ear as another few kunai came shooting out. Orochimaru quickly looked toward Kabuto and with a swift nod, Kabuto ran towards them, grabbed Anko, and ran leaving Orochimaru and Sasuke behind. Clashes of metal could be heard as they ran from the area leaving Orochimaru and Sasuke to keep the other ninjas off their trail.

"Wait Kabuto!" Anko said breathlessly as she tried to keep up with Kabuto as he pulled her along by her arm. "We have to go back! Orochimaru and Sasuke-"

"They'll be fine," he interrupted. "Remember who they are." Anko turned to look at the medical ninja to see a small, reassuring smile on his face. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

"What do we do now?" Anko asked quietly as she in Kabuto sat in booth that was located in a dark corner of the pub they were in.

"We just wait a bit." Kabuto replied in the same hushed tone as Anko. "It would be too suspicious if we went right to the hideout."

Anko took a sip of the sake she got before focusing back on Kabuto. He had somehow managed to carry three bags and drag her along without losing anything, quite amazing actually.

"You mean the hideout is in this village?" She asked. Kabuto nodded back in response.

"You see," Kabuto explained. "This hideout has to be entered at a specific spot at first. However, once entered, I can go down to the control room to lock or unlock any door I please."

"And this main entrance is-" Anko started.

"Yes, right in this very restaurant, through that back door to be more precise." Kabuto finished while quickly looking around to make sure no one was nearby.

"I see, so why can't we just go through there?" Anko asked. She had to lean more toward Kabuto so that she could still speak softly but he could still hear her above all the surrounding noise.

"It's roped off. No one is allowed back there, not even faculty, just as Orochimaru planned." Kabuto replied with a triumphant smirk.

"Where is Orochimaru?" Anko asked worriedly, fearing the worst. Kabuto's smirk left his face.

"I don't know," Kabuto sighed. "He never told me that part of the plan. All he said was that if there was trouble to get you and run. He didn't want to tell you because he knew you would protest."

"But why me?" Anko asked.

"Can't you tell?" Kabuto replied, "We are near the land of fire's border, many Leaf ninja are roaming around in the forest, they would recognize you in a heartbeat."

"That's why he said to keep my face hidden." Anko realized and Kabuto nodded. Anko felt slightly embarrassed having to ask Kabuto all these questions, how foolish she was to not even recognize her old borders and fellow ninja. Anko quickly shook her head and drowned what was left of her sake.

"Shouldn't be long now," Kabuto whispered toward her bringing her out of her thoughts. "A fight is bound to start soon by the looks of all these guys."

"That's our distraction." Anko replied piecing everything together. Kabuto nodded as he stood up from his seat.

"Stay put," he said sternly as he grabbed the bags. "I'm going to start this rally."

Anko nodded as Kabuto disappeared into the crowd of people to start some form of mayhem. However, Anko only had a few minutes alone till a large shadow hovered over her.

"Hey there cutie," A deep voice said from behind her. "Why're you hidin' under that cloak there?"

"Leave me alone." Anko sternly said to the man. She didn't want to make a scene since Kabuto was away.

The man didn't take the hint though as he sat down in the spot that Kabuto was recently at. He was large, hairy man and had a lot of tattoos covering his arms. Even though his face was far from hers, Anko could smell the strong scent of alcohol radiating off of him which made her want to gag.

"Aren't you a sweet thing," The man slurred clearly not noticing her disgust. "Why don't you remove that ragged thing so I could get a better look at pretty face?"

When the man reached toward her Anko immediately stood up while holding the cloak tighter around herself.

"I said leave me alone." Anko repeated with more anger in her voice. But the man still didn't listen. Instead he grabbed Anko by the back of her cloak and pulled her against him as he tried to force her hood down. Anko squirmed against his grip on her but froze for a second when she felt his large hand grab onto her breast. Feeling her fury rise Anko stomped down on his foot with all her strength causing the man to yelp out in pain. Before the man could strike back, Anko spun around and kicked the man in the stomach causing him to fall a few steps back and run into somebody. In a few seconds a fight had started between everyone in the pub.

Anko crawled away, hoping to not get any more attention but almost screamed when she felt herself being tugged up by her cloak.

"Anko, it's me! Are you alright?' Kabuto asked. If Anko wasn't so distracted, she would have realized the amount of concern in his voice when he said that.

"Yeah, let's just go." Anko replied breathlessly. She felt someone else grab onto her cloak which caused her hood to fall down, but she was too concerned with keeping up with Kabuto to care.

Meanwhile, a man with long, white hair sat at a table by the pub entrance door calmly as if there wasn't a huge bar fight happening around him. He was glancing around to see who would be the first to try and challenge the great sanin Jiraiya when he saw a familiar patch of brown spiky making its way through the crowd. When the figure turned its head, Jiraiya almost fell out of his chair. Could that really be the little Anko he knew? Last time he saw her she was just a little tike following Orochimaru around like she was his shadow. Man did she grow up nicely. What would she be doing in a place like this? Jiraiya's entire body froze when he saw the other cloaked figure ahead of her turn around to whisper something to her, that glare of glasses and gray hair could only belong to one person.

"I have to talk to Tsunade." Jiraiya whispered before slipping out the door so that he wouldn't be noticed.

Kabuto shut the door and sighed, their plan had worked. Bending down on his hands and knees Kabuto began knocking on the wooden floor boards.

"What took you so long to start that fight?" Anko asked as she still tried to regain her breath.

"Well, I had to get out bags out of the way so I had to sneak back here," Kabuto replied still crawling around on the floor "And thanks to you I couldn't start the fight, and I've always wanted to start a bar fight."

Anko just chuckled at this. "I'm sure you'll get another chance, Kabuto."

He just smirked back as he opened up the trap door which revealed a bunch of stone steps that went further into the ground.

"After you," Kabuto said jokingly. Anko just rolled her eyes and made her way down, Kabuto following shortly after and closing the door firmly shut. The cracks from the floor boards gave a little light but it didn't last long as they walked further in the tunnel. Kabuto took a lantern out of his bag to help them see in the rocky tunnel. After taking one look, Anko knew she would pick the hallways from their old hideout over this one any day. After a few moments of silence, Anko looked over at the ninja beside her.

"Kabuto," Anko said sincerely. "Thanks for helping me."

He just let out a small laugh, before replying. "Thanks for punching that guy in the bar."

"What did he ever do to you?" Anko asked as they continued down until they reached a door.

"He told me I was one hot babe." Kabuto grumbled while he pulled the wooden door open.

Anko couldn't help herself as her laugh echoed off the wall of their new hideout and soon she found Kabuto laughing along beside her.

* * *

"Tsunade-sama!" A leaf ninja came running into the office, his body covered in blood and his arm completely limp do to a set of snake bites on his arm.

"What happened?" The Hogake responded looking down at his arm.

"O-Orochimaru he and t-that Sasuke boy attacked me as well as my men." The ninja stuttered out, the venom was spreading quickly through his system. Orochimaru must have been in a rush to use such tactics and let them leave alive.

"Where's the rest of your team?" Tsunade asked worriedly wondering if perhaps Anko came back with the troop.

"The hospital." The ninja replied as Tsunade began healing his arm while he sat in one of the chairs. "But that's not all."

"What do you mean?" The blond haired women replied.

"There was a fourth one." The ninja continued. "I couldn't see its face because Orochimaru hid it and sent it off."

Tsunade felt her heart stop. _It couldn't be…_

"I stopped the poison, go quickly to the hospital, alright?" Tsunade told the ninja quickly and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_There's no way…Anko couldn't possibly be…_

"Tsunade!!" Jiraiya's voice called out as he hopped through her open window.

He was breathless as he stood before her, there was clearly something wrong.

"It's Anko. I saw her with Kabuto."

_To Be Continued_

* * *

_I'm alive!!!!! Yes! Another chapter is out and ready to go! I'm such a lazy bum….T^T_

_Anyway, I have to say this chapter was really fun to write. Probably some of the most fun I've had in awhile. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it had a lot of action, no? XD Sadly, Orochimaru didn't have a big role, but don't worry, we'll see more of him soon and we'll finally find out why they had to leave the old hideout!!_

_Thanks so much for all the wonderful support!_

_See you in chapter 15!!_


End file.
